#glad to see that wasn’t caused by mods and the game is just that bad in that regard

[unpleasantview]

i cannot believe i genuinely have fun playing sims 4 rn?? especially w/o any gameplay mods??? ig ive just been playing w mods for so long that i thought all of the features were just mods but????? they added so much to the game holy shit

[mauselet]

The Influencer - And All Is Not Fine

This story is for @ask-the-rag-dolly's blog, specifically The Influencer AU. Honestly, loving the blog so much. Huge thanks to Mod Bee for creating it and if you haven't already, go check out her blog.

Big thanks to WanderingDragon and Foolscap Hamato for helping with the fic.

Yes, the story is named after Entropy by Awkward Marina lyrics. Also, the anon/s that speak in orange and red, you got a reference in there cause it felt fitting.

Well, I really hope you enjoy this story!

Story includes: Ragatha X Pomni (but can be taken as platonically), angst, hurt/comfort

TW body horror, possessive behavior, possession, anxiety/panic attack, haphephobia/fear of being touched, questioning sanity, self-neglect

It's been a few weeks since Pomni found out that there were currently hundreds of voices inside Ragatha's head. Wow, and after all this time it didn't sound any less insane. From what Pomni understood, those voices were a virus that had infected the circus and latched onto Ragatha. They couldn't tell Caine about this because he'd likely kill them and Ragatha refused that. For some reason, she wanted to protect them which seemed even crazier than the whole situation. Some of them were friendly, sure, but others…

They attacked Jax, causing him to glitch out. They taunted Ragatha by plaguing her mind with the worst cases imaginable or calling her names or taking her too literally. They spawned that stupid paper shredder!

Oh, how Pomni hated that thing! The next time she sees one, she’ll personally smash it into pieces.

In short, the voices–all of them–stressed Ragatha out. And who could blame her? Sometimes even your own voice in your head can drive you mad. Pomni was actually impressed that the doll hadn’t reached her breaking point yet with these “anons”, as they called themselves, constantly following her.

Of course, it wasn’t all that bad. Sure, they led to Ragatha temporarily losing her arm, but it was also thanks to them that she worked up the courage to speak to Pomni again. The thought of that always brought a smile to the jester’s face.

She was glad she could talk to her. Not only because Ragatha was nice and overall pleasant to be around, but it was also good for the ragdoll; especially now that she avoided the other circus performers to prevent another Jax fiasco or a possible infection.

The redhead’s absence was noticed by the others and to Pomni’s surprise, they were concerned about her. When Pomni first arrived, she was too busy spiraling down her anxiety to see it, but these trapped souls were friends. They cared about one another, even if it’d be in their own strange ways. So Pomni decided to reassure them all with daily reports on how Ragatha was doing.

And that was usually the extent of her interactions with them. Until Caine’s adventures forced her to stick around the whole day. Sometimes she was able to avoid them, however, there were times when she just couldn’t no matter how hard she tried. Unfortunately for her, adventures like these stacked over the course of the last few days, making it basically impossible for Pomni to check on Ragatha.

By the third or fourth day, Pomni was getting anxious. Throughout the adventure, her fingers were constantly convulsing while stuck in an unnatural position, her eyes turned into scribbles and her thoughts were as far away from the game as possible.

Ragatha must’ve been lonely. It’s been days since she’s interacted with anyone. Well…since she’s interacted with someone who meant no harm to her. Hopefully, she was alright…

Pomni suddenly jerked and snapped out of her thoughts as a gloved hand waved in front of her eyes. Her head shot up and she saw Kinger, Zooble and Gangle who announced to her that they found a way to replace her in today’s adventure and that she could go see Ragatha. If she had to be honest, she didn’t even know what the adventure was, but if she really wasn’t needed there…

She gave the three of them a quick smile and dashed to Ragatha’s room as fast as her short legs could carry her. As soon as she arrived and caught her breath, she rang the bell, waiting and…

Waiting.

Pomni felt a pit in her stomach. No, no, no. She shook her head. Everything’s fine, it’s just taking a bit. She rang again.

“R-Ragatha? It’s me, Pomni. A-are you in there?”

But she was still left waiting.

“Ragatha!” she raised her voice, yet still no response.

Oh God, three days… Three whole days with nothing but those voices. That must’ve been a nightmare for the doll and Pomni left her dealing with that alone. She left her again…

“I’m coming in!” she announced and reached for the doorknob. Her body froze as she held it, overwhelmed by worried thoughts, but also by a sense of déjà vu. She chuckled darkly at the memory of desperately wanting to know what was behind a door she shouldn’t go through and then opened.

A wave of relief washed over Pomni as she wasn’t instantly met with a glitching blob with a thousand glowing eyeballs. She walked in and closed the door behind her.

She looked around the room and her heart skipped a beat. Ragatha was there, sitting on her bed, sewing what appeared to be a suit. She was so focused on her work; maybe that's why she didn't register the bell. Pomni can't actually remember if she'd ever seen her this focused, but she looked surprisingly calm and, the jester had to admit, quite pretty. 

“Um…Ragatha?” the short woman started, walking over, “I'm sorry for barging in, I was just worried when you didn't answer.” But the ragdoll didn't respond; it was as if she didn’t even notice that Pomni was in the room talking to her.

Was she ignoring her? Was she mad? Did she…hate her? All of those thoughts sounded really ridiculous considering that this was Ragatha we were talking about. She doesn’t even allow herself to hate Jax, someone who’s caused more than enough harm to her, so there is no way she’d ever hate Pomni. Right…? Yet all those thoughts, as unrealistic as they might’ve seemed, felt like real possibilities to Pomni.

Somehow despite Jax putting her worst fear in her room, voices constantly screaming at her and hurting her and Caine forcing her into some of the most dangerous scenarios, not being there for her seemed like the biggest crime of them all.

Well, there was only one way to fix it.

“I’m so sorry I took so long,” Pomni let out, her steps slowing down, “I tried to check on you, but Caine’s adventures-”

“Oh, it’s alright, dear,” hearing that gentle voice, Pomni stopped. It was nice hearing her again, but something felt off. Sure, Ragatha occasionally used pet names like hun or sweetheart or even dear–oh geez, Pomni felt her cheeks heating up just thinking about it—that wasn’t the issue. She sounded more nonchalant than reassuring.

That didn’t matter right now. She wasn’t mad and that brought a smile to Pomni’s face. However, that didn’t last long as the doll finally raised her head.

Pomni’s face turned paler than usual if it was even possible, the pinwheel eyes shrunk, making them nearly invisible and her smile vanished as if it was never there.

Oh %$!#... Oh %$!#! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO! This wasn’t… This couldn’t have been real!

She wasn’t just staring at a black void with two colorful eyes where Ragatha’s button was supposed to be. She wasn’t just witnessing her friend slowly abstracting in front of her! She wasn’t… She wasn’t…

This wasn’t real!

It… It was just one of the digital hallucinations that Caine mentioned. Yeah! That’s it! That’s…That’s what it…was…

But those eyes, that void, they were still there, no matter how much Pomni convinced herself about the opposite.

Caine. She had to go get Caine! As Ragatha said once, maybe there was still time to fix this.

“Stay here!” Pomni blurted out, “I’ll be right back!” She quickly turned around and ran to the door. She’s going to come back this time. This time she won’t let Ragatha suffer.

She reached for the doorknob, but before she could grab it, arms wrapped around her and she was pulled back. One of the arms held her abdomen while the other was around her neck, not too tight yet still uncomfortable.

Feeling the fabric arms against her skin made her dizzy and itchy. She could sense every single pixel touching her, causing goosebumps to spread over her body.

“Where are you going, dear~?” she heard a whisper in her ear. It was Ragatha’s gentle, calming voice- No. It sounded different and…wrong. The voice was demanding and rough.

Pomni’s breath hitched. Was really something wrong with Ragatha? Or was her mind just messing with her? Well, the physical contact didn’t exactly help her think clearly as her body was plagued with this disgusting sensation.

“Don’t leave me~” For whatever reason, those words made the black-haired woman sick.

The doll’s embrace tightened. The touch of the fabric felt so venomous and paralyzing. It felt sickening. It felt wrong.

The jester wanted to escape that trap. She needed to escape it, yet no matter how much the voice in her head screamed at her body to move, it wouldn’t budge an inch. She was frozen in such a predicament with nothing but her racing heart, uneven breath, and voice stuck in her throat.

She attempted to take a deep breath, only to leave herself coughing.

“Are you alright, dear?” That voice again. It made shivers run down Pomni’s spine.

She sucked in another breath and let out a very weak and broken “Ragatha”. She repeated this a few times until she made a sensible sentence: “Ragatha… Please, let go…”

“Let go?” the doll wondered innocently, “why would I do that?”

“Please…” the jester mouthed.

“It’s not like I want to hurt you.” The grip tightened even more. “I would never hurt you. I would never-” The taller woman went silent. She felt the pale jester in her arms trembling and her heart dropped.

“Pomni…” Ragatha let out softly and her embrace loosened, “y-you’re shaking…” Rather than talking to Pomni, however, she seemed to have told it to herself. Reminding it to herself as if just physically feeling it wasn't enough to make it sink in. 

Even some of the voices were yelling at her to let go while the others objected. Was it the good or bad ones? What even made them good or bad? Were there even any bad voices? Were there even any good voices?

The voices that objected weren’t yelling, but whispering yet they were somehow much louder than the yells.

“Don’t listen to them–” “You can’t let go–” “You can–!” “She’ll find Caine and tell him about us–” “She wouldn’t–” “It’s too great of a risk–!” “If Caine finds out about us, we’ll be–” “What would happen to Rags–?”

“Ragatha, don’t you care about us? Don’t you care about what happens to you?!”

She flinched, instinctively tensing her hold on Pomni. In no way did she help the situation, with the jester’s body convulsing out of control.

“What is it, dolly? Are we too much for you to handle? Are we too loud? Can you even tell the difference between us and your own thoughts? Is there even a difference at this point?”

Oh God, her knees felt weak, her head was spinning, and tears filled her eye. She felt like she was about to collapse at any moment, but there was something forcing her to stand. Something kept her body like this against her will despite her exhaustion.

“Oh, dollface, do you feel the abstraction crawling under your skin? Or well, fabric? Did we do it? Did we f̴i̷n̴a̵l̸l̴y̸ ̶b̷r̸e̶a̵k�� ̶y̷o̴u̵?̸”

All the voices then started shouting over one another again. Ragatha couldn’t even make out what they were saying as it all blended into an incoherent mess. With so much noise in her head, she wanted to join them. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs; let out all her frustration not just with the voices, but with her whole body. It would be a beautiful relief, but even that was a luxury. Her body wouldn’t let her. They wouldn’t let her.

She’d swear that in the middle of all the noise she heard things that made her want to throw up. She hoped that it was just her imagination and her brain tried to give those noises some meaning, however… That would mean it was her own thoughts and that creeped her out even more. Strangely, some of those words weren’t anything bad, they were just…words. Yet they all sounded so disgusting. So wrong. Every last one of them.

Every last one…

Every last–

“Please…” One voice silenced all of them despite how weak and broken it was. No… No, it was loud and clear. It was…real.

It hit her like a truck. Everything that just happened in the span of a few minutes. How Pomni walked into the room, apologizing. How terrified the jester was when she saw her. How she stopped her when she tried to leave. How she was holding her this whole time despite the pain she was clearly causing Pomni.

Ragatha jumped back, letting go of the jester, allowing her to collapse to her knees. The small woman was sitting there, swinging back and forth, hyperventilating. She reached her hands to her arms as if to brace herself, but she didn’t touch. Instead, she grabbed her hat and pulled, her eyes shut. The bells one would associate with joy and fun now sounded distorted to both of the performers. The bells were… unnerving.

“Oh my gosh…” Ragatha let out as it all sank in. She covered her mouth and a tear ran down her face as she stared down at the black-haired woman. Her heart was breaking at the sight. “Oh my gosh…”

She did this… No, no, no. The voices did. Right…? She…She wasn’t in control, was she?

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry,” she mumbled, although, she wasn’t sure if Pomni could even hear her, “I-I lost control of them.” She cried more. “I messed up. Ragatha, you idiot… You %$!# idiot! You scared her. You hurt her! Why would I…? I would never-”

She felt tears rolling down her right cheek too, but that wasn’t possible. She wiped the tears with her hand and when she looked at it, her fingertips were covered by dark liquid.

Her heart stopped, realizing what that was. The dark void was leaking. The voices were right…

The bells on Pomni’s head rang again, causing Ragatha to snap out of those thoughts. There was something more important she had to do than pity herself. Her emotions could wait. Her abstraction could wait! She didn’t matter right now. She didn’t matter at all! Pomni did.

Despite her own breakdown, she rushed over to the jester, kneeling in front of her. She was in tears, barely thinking straight, potentially on the verge of abstracting, but Pomni mattered more.

Ragatha reached her hand towards the pale woman but flinched when she realized it wasn’t the brightest idea considering what caused this in the first place. She instead laid her hands on her own knees so Pomni could see them.

“Hey, Pomni?” she spoke up, her voice trembling. That sure was reassuring…

C’mon, Ragatha! Get a hold of yourself! Pomni needs you! Don’t freak her out.

She took a deep breath and ran her hand through her yarn, brushing it over her right eye to hide it. She curled her hands into fists and calmed her breath before speaking.

“Pomni, hun?” She was doing her best to keep her voice stable this time. “Look at me, please. Hun, look at me.” Pomni cringed, her body still going back and forth. “It’s okay, it’s just me. The real me, I promise,” Ragatha continued, “I just need you to look at me.” The big eyes slowly opened, showing scribbles, and looked up. “That’s it.” Ragatha smiled at her brightly. “Good job, sweetheart. Good job.”

The smaller woman was still trembling, still pulling at her hat, still swinging back and forth, still not controlling her breath. 

“Alright, dear-”

Pomni flinched at that, tears streaming down her face as she looked away. 

“O-okay! Okay,” Ragatha said in an unintentional panic. She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out. I won't call you that again, I promise. I promise. You’re safe now.”

Still in tears, the jester stopped pulling at her hat, yet the bells kept ringing. Each sob was accompanied by a happy metallic chime as her body jerked. Ragatha had to admit that it made her wails quite adorable and each little jingle seemingly made a voice in her head disappear each time. But she wished more than anything that they'd stop.

“Pomni?” Ragatha knew she had to keep trying. “Hey, Pompom, hun… Can you look at me again?”

The smaller woman didn't seem to listen. She then choked on her sobs as they didn't mix well with her rapid breathing. Seeing this, some of the voices panicked, but Ragatha had to stay calm. She instinctively lifted her hand from her knee, however, thankfully stopped herself from touching Pomni. 

“Please?” the ragdoll’s soothing voice asked and Pomni couldn't deny it. The black-haired woman turned to her, scribbles in her bloodshot eyes. 

“Good job.” A smile of relief and reassurance formed on Ragatha's face. “Now, honey, you're having another episode, but that's okay. It's okay, I'll help you through it. I’m not going anywhere. We'll get through it  together, okay?”

Pomni nodded slowly, choking on her sobs again. 

“I need you to breathe with me,” Ragatha told her, “four seconds in, hold and six out. Four, hold, six.” She waited for Pomni to nod again before she took a deep breath that the jester immediately followed, yet struggling. They held their breath, but sniffles broke them. Then they exhaled together. 

“Now, let's try again.”

And as Ragatha said, they did. Breathing was much easier for Pomni this time around. 

“You're doing great,” the redhead praised her, “are you able to go on your own?” She watched as Pomni nodded and took another deep breath with her eyes shut. “Good, keep going. You’re safe, hun. Focus on me, okay?”

When Pomni opened her eyes again, they were back to their pinwheel look. Ragatha also noticed that she stopped shaking and the swinging slowed down. Her smile widened in relief.

She kept talking to Pomni while the jester calmed her breath. They were like this for a few more minutes until…

“R-Ragatha…?” Pomni finally spoke up and the ragdoll gasped quietly.

“Welcome back, sweetheart,” Ragatha greeted her, “you feeling any better?”

“A little…” Pomni’s voice was still pretty weak, but she had much more to say. She held her hands together, rubbing her thumb with the other. “But I should be the one asking you.”

“What are you talking about?” Ragatha shook her head. “I just helped you through a panic attack-”

“And I’m forever grateful for that,” the jester blurted out, “but, Ragatha… You’re on the verge of abstracting!” They both flinched at the yell and Ragatha covered the black void on her face despite being hidden behind the hair. “And it’s all because of me.” Pomni shifted her eyes away. “Because I left you when you needed me. Again!”

“Pomni, you can’t blame yourself for that. It wasn’t your fault.”

“‘Can’t blame yourself?’ You’re the one to talk,” the pale woman scuffed. She then took a deep breath. “Sorry.”

“No, you have all the right to call me out.”

“Did it happen because of… them?” Pomni glanced at the taller woman, her eyes narrowing at the last word.

“I think so,” Ragatha replied and noticed Pomni inhaling to speak, but she quickly interrupted her, “that’s why you can’t tell Caine.”

“But, Rag-”

“You promised.”

“And you said you wanted this to stop,” Pomni reminded her, raising her voice, “I understand you don’t want them to die, but think about what they’re doing to you. Stress? Mental breakdowns? Abstraction?!” The doll lowered her head in shame. “Rags, you’re suffering and I can’t bear to watch. You care about the people around you and I appreciate that, but for once in this digital life think about yourself first.”

“No need to worry, darling,” Ragatha said calmly, looking up with a bright smile as if the topic was just a casual small talk, “the anons are actually what keeps me from abstracting, otherwise I’d be in the cellar by now.” Pomni cringed at every word due to how cheerfully the doll said them. “We’re also really, really sorry for touching you. We were so afraid of you telling Caine that we had to stop you somehow. Sorry we hurt you.”

Pomni was just staring at her, an unsure expression painted on her face. This all felt wrong and Ragatha’s next words didn’t ease that feeling.

“I’m fine, really. I’m sure that I can join in on the adventures again soon.”

No, that wasn’t right. She just said she’s afraid of Caine finding out, why does she suddenly want to take part in his adventures? And that wasn’t the only thing off.

“What happened to staying in your room to prevent infecting people with the virus?” Pomni wondered, “don’t get me wrong, the others would be happy to see you and they’re definitely worried about you. Heck, Zooble, Gangle and Kinger helped me get out of an adventure to check up on you; it’s just…”

“You’ve been spending so much time with me and you’re not influenced,” Ragatha pointed out.

Well, Pomni couldn’t argue with that. There were still many other issues with this seemingly spontaneous idea, but the more she thought about them the less sense her reasoning as to why they were even issues made. It was as if her mind was getting blurrier the more she tried to use her brain. She must’ve been tired from her previous meltdown.

“I guess you have a point.” She let out a sigh and smiled at the woman softly, but then… Did Ragatha have that wide grin on her face before? That didn’t matter right now; she needed some rest.

“Look, I know I haven’t been here in a while, but I should really go into my room and take a nap,” she explained.

“Oh, no worries, d̶e̶a̸r̴,” Ragatha replied, “have a nice sleep.”

“I’ll try. Thanks.” Pomni stood up and headed to the door. She grabbed the doorknob and turned back. “And I mean it, try thinking about yourself. It isn’t hard to care about you; me and at least three other people can agree on that.” Her smile widened as she opened the door. “And Ragatha? …I… Thank you for helping me through the attack, I really appreciate it. You’re a great friend.”

She then closed the door and stayed in the room. 

She originally planned on finding Caine the moment she was outside. She was well aware that Ragatha didn't want that, however, Pomni was willing to do anything to help her stop hurting. She didn't care if Ragatha hated her for it–she was sure she would–she just wanted her friend to be safe.

But as much as she wanted that, she couldn't bring her body to go through with it. It was as if it didn't obey her. 

“Don't leave me,” she remembered the doll's words. No, it wasn't a memory; it felt like someone just whispered in her ear. 

That's crazy. It was just her imagination. Nothing else. 

“Pomni, please. Don't leave,” Ragatha's voice begged her. It sounded so real. But there was no way Ragatha's whispers could reach her, right?

The more she thought about it, the more her mind was filled with white noise, static. And the longer that went on, the more that noise made sense to her as if it spoke to her. 

“I'm scared,” one noise was much louder. Ragatha's voice.

Pomni's not leaving her again.

She let go of the doorknob and turned around to see the ragdoll still sitting on her knees, showing Pomni her back. 

“Actually, can I stay here?” the jester asked, “I don't want you to be alone and…I'd also feel more comfortable with some company.”

“Why of course,” the doll replied, the huge grin remaining on her face. She got up and headed over to her bed. Reaching into her hair, she pulled out her bow and used it to tie her hair up in a ponytail.

“You can take a nap in my bed,” she said. 

“Oh.” Pomni blushed a little, not only at the offer but also due to the redhead’s sudden hairdo change. Whatever it was, it had some strong influence on Pomni. "Thanks."

Once at her bed, Ragatha picked up the suit she was working on when Pomni first walked in. It was nearly done. It truly was clothing worthy of someone as powerful as her; someone with influence stronger than the ringmaster himself.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Chapter 3: The Worst of the Worst

Hello, everyone. Mod Bubbles here.

I have been asked by some friends of mine, following a few long rants about my least favorite element of this series: Chapter 3. Some of you may already know that these tend to be the weakest elements of any DR game, but it goes beyond just that.

I’m here to explain to you all why every Chapter 3 I’ve seen- DR1, SDR2, V3, DRA and SDRA2- is the worst. I’m also going to be ranking them, starting from the least bad, and explaining why, on every conceivable level, they don’t work.

First off, let me just start off by saying that, if you like these characters or sections of their respective games, more power to you. I am not judging you, I’m not attacking you and I’m glad you could get more enjoyment out of them than I did. This is simply me explaining why I don’t think they work, but why some work better than others. All of this is just my opinion.

Some of this will be me criticizing them for their objective writing problems, some of it will be personal taste reasons, but perhaps you’ll be interested in what I have to say. Without further ado, let’s get into it:

Least bad- SDR2 Chapter 3

Those of you who know who my favorite character is may be surprised to see this one as the least bad. To be clear, it’s still bad, but I think it’s probably the least bad out of them all. 

The recurring problem with Chapter 3 is that every single one involves some degree of plot contrivance and character assassination. Someone inevitably gets turned into a parody of themselves or something stupid happens to make the plot possible. You have to take it with the territory when ranking them, as they all suffer from this problem.

 The plot contrivance this time around is that of the Despair Disease, which causes anyone infected with it to radically shift personalities- Akane turns into a coward, Ibuki is gullible and Nagito is a liar and he almost fucking died to his disease. This is already ridiculous, but we could accept it as part of foreshadowing that they’re in a virtual world. But then it goes one step further.

MIkan takes it upon herself to help everyone who’s gotten sick, and in turn, she also contracts it. She doesn’t shift personalities, but inexplicably remembers everything about her past as an Ultimate Despair. Thus begins the character assassinations- literally and figuratively- of Mikan and Hiyoko.

As sad as it is to see Ibuki go, it at least serves the narrative, the trope being “Shoo out the clowns” for when things get serious. Her death is thematically appropriate, while Hiyoko is...barely an afterthought. Yeah, Mikan doesn’t even kill her for revenge, she’s literally just in the wrong place at the wrong time and just fucking dies.

As you may know, originally Fuyuhiko was supposed to die here, but the writers realized that it would’ve made Peko’s sacrifice pointless, so quickly rewrote it so that Hiyoko would die instead, a move that feels as cobbled-together as it sounds, especially with the lack of effort in finding her murder weapon. And all of those goes without saying, but it turns Mikan into a deranged lunatic, so why is this one the least bad?

Because, out of all the Chapter 3′s, this one is the most relevant to the story. While I don’t like the path they take with it, Mikan’s transformation is ultimately effective foreshadowing for the truth about Class 77 and why they’re in the simulation, as well as the horrifying levels of their devotion to Junko.

And unlike the others, Mikan wasn’t trying to escape. She was trying to carry on with the mission of resurrecting Junko and wanted to inflict despair on the others along the way. What makes this still a bad chapter is a single question: if the Despair Disease can make someone remember their past, why not use that as a way to make everyone remember?

The goal of the Ultimate Despairs in getting into the Neo World Program was to provide bodies for the Junko AI, so why not have them all remember and commit mass suicide? No handwave is given as to why they can’t, but either way, this one is at least the most relevant to the story. Let’s move on.

Bad- DRA Chapter 3

Again, this one is still bad, but it at least has a more sympathetic motivation. The culprit for this case, Kinji Uehara, is the Ultimate Priest and had a close bond with a large group of orphans under the care of the church. A pretty noble guy...who’s being exploited by the Mastermind to become a mole and to kill if there’s no murder, or else the kids get it.

Now, this is not a new development. We saw this with Sakura in DR1, but while she was noble enough to take her own life instead of sacrificing her dojo or her friends, Kinji unfortunately cracked under the pressure and chose to murder.

What makes this one worse that SDR2′s is how cruel Kinji’s actions are. See, Kinji is not a true Despair. Like I said, he’s just this game’s mole and has to feed info to the Mastermind, but in doing so, he’s trying to save a group of children he believes are in danger. That’s a questionable situation, but paints him in a sympathetic light.

But he loses sympathy points for the nature of the murders he commits: the deaths of Kanata and Kakeru. Not only are the two of them some of the nicest people in the cast, but the ways that he murders them are absolutely horrific- slitting Kakeru’s throat enough that he bleeds out, then electrocuting Kanata so badly that her internal organs were burned to a crisp.

Now, he’d explained that he targeted Kanata because she was always in the infirmary and thus she’d be an easy target. However, why did she need to die in such a needlessly cruel way? Why not give her an overdose of some kind of drug? Why did he feel the need to murder her with a giant blade at first, then place her into a situation that would guarantee an absolutely cruel and horrifying death? And after he’d already killed Kakeru?

What pushes it over the edge for me is the fact that Kinji had already fatally wounded Kakeru, and the man gave Kinji a dying request that he spare Kanata. What did Kinji have to say about it? That it was already too late. I’m sorry, but no. It was not too late. He went out of his way to continue with the murder plot he’d decided on because of the Sunk Cost Fallacy and doubled the body count for the sake of...I have no idea. Tradition?

Either way, he denied Kakeru his dying wish and still killed Kanata, despite already guaranteeing that he did as he was tasked to and killed someone.

And then he goes further and tries to attack both Rei and Tsurugi, just because they were out of their rooms at the time, and add them to the frame-up. Yet all this kind of thing does is leave more evidence for who the killer is every time it happens.

All of that is so utterly cruel and sadistic that it feels wildly out of character for someone like Kinji to do, even if he was under a lot of pressure at the time. It’s a worse level of character assassination, but one mitigated slightly by the fact that he does apologize and show genuine remorse by the end.

And I do have sympathy for him after it turns out the kids he was trying to save were dead all along. As horrific as his actions were, he at least had a noble ultimate goal...and that goal was ripped away from him long before he even realized. It’s tragic, cruel and unfair.

The same cannot be said for our next entry.

Very Bad- DR1 Chapter 3

This one is pretty infamous among the fandom and for good reason. Celeste engineers a complicated and frankly ridiculous plan that involves tricking Hifumi into killing Taka, creating the Robo-Justice suit to frame Hagakure and then killing Hifumi herself. All to claim the huge amount of reward money Monokuma had offered and live out her Goth Fantasy Life.

 What sets it here is that the character assassination goes from unnecessary cruelty to outright stupidity. Celeste puts together this frankly ridiculous and elaborate plan, which would be bad enough given that she should be smarter than this, but it goes further. She does so much to push the narrative of the situation that it becomes blindingly obvious who the culprit is even before the first murder.

The Robo-Justice concept is just silly, and maybe that was the point, to be so shocking and baffling that it distracted everyone from all the other details, but Hina quickly points out that the suit is impossible to really move in. That immediately rules it out as even a red herring and turns it into more of a distraction.

Beyond that though, once again, another death is basically an afterthought. Because Taka and Hifumi are fighting over Alter Ego, she uses that as leverage to get Hifumi to help her, so he kills Taka and then she kills him, and Taka’s role in this chapter is so minimal that I can barely remember if he had any lines. And this was after the emotional gut-punch of Chapter 2, when he lost Mondo. Which leads to the other big problem with Chapter 3: sudden character development death syndrome, or SCDDS.

Likewise, this plan, like all Chapter 3′s, was far more elaborate and nonsensical than it needed to be, with so many moving parts and so many factors Celeste had to actively try and control that it became very obvious this was a conspiracy and thus no surprise that it was her.

Really, if she wanted to take advantage of their fight, why not kill one and frame the other? It would’ve been so much simpler, had less moving parts and been far more believable. She instead went with complexity over brevity and set a horrible standard the games could not break away from.

And why did she do it? She says it was to gain the money and live in a castle with vampire butlers. Nothing noble, just something flat-out selfish and stupid, if you take her words at face value. But if you don’t, there’s a lot of room to interpret what she says and she seems to show some degree of remorse or at least regret for what happened.

I hope you enjoyed that, because there’s no regret in the last two.

Terrible- V3 Chapter 3

And here’s a Chapter 3 so bad, it’s become a meme. I’ll admit, I was actually ready to name this one my favorite Chapter 3 of the series when I first saw it. I was impressed that they’d finally broken away from the formula and had to solve a single murder, in this case Angie in the locked art room. There was so much to explore there.

And then Tenko died and I realized this series really cannot break its own formula. Cue my disappointed sigh.

All of the same problems I had with the previous entry are here, but they’ve been ramped up to 11. Korekiyo pushes so hard to do the séance in a specific room, it’s hard not to suspect he’s up to something. Tenko’s sudden emotional speech to Himiko could not have telegraphed her death harder if the pinwheel ribbon tied to her head were replaced with a set of red flags. But now onto the murder plot itself.

“Haha seesaw effect funny yada yada,” let’s get to the real meat of the issue here. Kiyo purposefully arranged for a set of rooms to become traps that he could use during the séance he’d been pushing for, but he did so right outside the room Angie was doing her own creepy rituals in. And when she came in looking for a candle, he clubbed her with a piece of wood, carried her back to her room, murdered her and locked the room behind him.

Do you know what this means? If he hadn’t killed Tenko, Kiyo would’ve won. I’m serious, there was no way the group would’ve been able to fully pinpoint that he was the one who managed to kill Angie and he would’ve not only been able to escape, but guaranteed everyone else would’ve died.

And he reveals his goal by the end was to kill a bunch of girls to send to his dead sister. The obvious conclusion to draw is that he believed that he had to kill a girl during a séance, but since he shanked Angie with the gold katana and sent he believes he sent her to be with his sister at the end of the trial, that means he doesn’t believe that a séance is necessary.

Which ultimately means he went through with the infamous seesaw trap purely because he’d spent so much time setting it up and he didn’t want it to go to waste. That is the only explanation for why he didn’t just call it quits with Angie and let the rest of the trial play out.

And all of that is without even getting into the really grotesque rationale behind his actions: his sister, whom he was apparently in an incestuous relationship with and whose spirit he believes lives on inside of him. His sister was very sick and thus never really had any friends, and it’s likely Kiyo was the only constant presence in her life. There are also very uncomfortable implications that she may have abused him as well, pressuring him to live the life that she wanted, and none of it is really addressed.

And so, when she died, Kiyo was left alone and believed he could send her 100 friends in the afterlife. Thus, he’d gone around killing at least 90 women, given that he says he was close to his goal, before ending up in the Killing Game. While he’s disappointed, he’s satisfied he at least got close and creepily promised to watch over everyone like a ghost.

Really, it’s how shockingly dumb Kiyo’s actions are that bring this one down so far, although the incestuous serial killer angle really doesn’t help. Speaking of which, there really is no reason for it beyond Tsumugi wanting to live out her fantasies.

But as bad as this one is, it still manages to avoid being the worst of them all.

What the fuck?- SDRA2 Chapter 3

How do you get worse than V3's Chapter 3? You try to emulate it.

That’s no exaggeration. LINUJ has stated that his ideas for this chapter of SDRA2 changed after he saw V3′s, which gave him the inspiration for this part of the game. And while I know plenty of people really enjoyed this one, even considering it the best, I have to disagree completely.

Not only is this the worst Chapter 3 out of them all, this is honestly one of the worst pieces of media in anything Danganronpa-related that I’ve ever seen. I mean that genuinely, not out of anger, but out of disgust and disappointment.

First of all, this trial is too long. I can accept that trials would need to go on for a while in these circumstances, but six hours? SIX HOURS?! And most of that time is spent with Kanade arguing with Syobai over small, petty details.

Second, perhaps the worst in terms of sheer, unmitigated plot contrivances. There is so much that goes on here that can only be explained with either heavy-handed exposition or handwaves of “Fuck you, she’s smart” or “fuck you, I’m lucky.” What do I mean by that? The biggest is the crux of why this trial famously has two blackeneds.

When Kanade and Hibiki (in her puppet state) murder Setsuka, they stab her with such synchronized timing, milliseconds apart, that Monocrow can’t even decide which happened first. And this was never addressed or shown at any point beforehand, just vaguely referenced here and there.

This is different from something like Nagito relying on his luck in Chapter 5. Nagito’s luck had been established countless times by then and he used it to his advantage to make Chiaki the blackened, with his goal being to kill the others and allow her to go free. If there had been similar scenes with Kanade and Hibiki demonstrating their synchronization, even just one or two, I would’ve been more willing to believe it.

Likewise, another element of Kanade’s murder plot is that she’s apparently good at throwing. I’m a bit more lenient toward this one, as I recall there might’ve been a scene where she was throwing darts and Hibiki was like “She’s the best at darts!” It’s not much, but it’s better. 

My issue is that these are cases of tell, don’t show. You can’t expect me to believe a detail about character that hadn’t been demonstrated until that point simply because I’m informed and not shown how it works. Nagito’s luck at least has rules, while the synchronicity with the twins seems even more ridiculous by comparison.

That then brings us to the murderess herself, Kanade, who manages to be both a ridiculous genius and completely incompetent at the same time. She describes herself as a perfectionist and makes sure to think about every detail of her plan beforehand, from timetables to which handbooks they need, every shot she needs to make, every tool they need, etc.

And yet she leaves behind a bottle of antibiotics. One that proves to be a crucial piece of evidence in incriminating her. If she were really meticulous, she could’ve taken stock of everything she’d brought her medical kit beforehand and then checked to see if she had it all before they left. But she didn’t, and it’s even acknowledged that it was a stupid mistake.

Add to that the pins that they needed that also got them incriminated. Where did they come from? The bags Hibiki stuffed into her shirt to pad her chest and make herself look like Kanade, which contained Setsuka’s disembodied hands. Which...yeah, let’s get this out of the way too.

This chapter also relies far, far too much on shock value. Setsuka’s death is absolutely horrifying and works in the moment, but things like Kanade’s reveal of being a serial killer, while foreshadowed decently, are only really effective on a first viewing. The more you think about it, the less it actually makes sense and the more it hurts both her image and the logic of her plot.

And I’m going to be genuine about this: this chapter is also guilty of serial killer glorification. It doesn’t matter if it frames her in a negative light or paints it as horrific, this was LINUJ trying to make her as shocking and horrific as possible, but also making her into a genius who gets everything she wants at the expense of all the people she’d hurt. The narration goes out of its way to refer to Kanade as a genius multiple times. And the fact that she was the second most popular character in a poll really shows what I’m talking about.

To be clear, I don’t like how much focus Genocider Syo gets in the canon games, especially with how they’re played for comic relief more than anything. However, the difference is that Toko actually has a character that grows and develops beyond Syo, Syo doesn’t actually kill any of the main characters (still highly questionable but given how desperate the Tragedy is, I can accept that) and it’s made pretty clear in UDG that even she has some humanity in her. Syo has a sense of decency and compassion, shared with Toko, that grants her some humanity. That is not the case with Kanade, who is a monster through and through.

Toko and Syo are capable of unconditional love toward Byakuya, one that I can be certain would not turn murderous or cruel, even if Byakuya is not the kind of guy to go for. Kanade, by contrast, is not capable of unconditional love; she’s an incestuous, manipulative, stalking, psychopathic control-freak.

Additionally, Kanade’s death isn’t true justice, it’s her getting to die with a smile on her face knowing that she ruined countless lives and has her sister die with her too. Which then brings me to my biggest point of contention and the conclusion of the objective section of this analysis. I will now start shouting, so prepare yourself.

Fuck this chapter and what it did to Hibiki. She was the biggest victim in all of this, even worse than Setsuka. At least Setsuka wasn’t aware of what was happening and died before she was chopped into pieces. Meanwhile, Hibiki not only learns that she’s partially responsible for it, she gets next to no sympathy from the rest of the cast for what happened, then learns her serial killer sister has been killing and torturing people her whole life to isolate her. And then gets to learn Kanade killed their parents before being dragged off to their double execution, screaming for help the whole time.

And this was after a ton of character growth and development I was far more interested in and impressed with. When I saw this chapter play out, I didn’t see a tragedy with her or an engaging villain, I saw a frustrating shock-baity twist that left me disgusted, confused and annoyed. Two great characters died to glorify another shitty repetition of the serial killer plot beat, and somehow Kanade is the one who gets all the attention and all the popularity.

And let’s get something clear here: Kanade, this amazing mega super genius who killed 60 people and never got caught? She left crucial evidence behind, evidence that she brought herself and didn’t bother to fully clean up. Do you know who didn’t accidentally leave evidence behind in his first ever murder? Leon. He was smart enough to use a lint roller to clean up any traces of his hair and threw his bloody shirt in the furnace. He only got caught because Sayaka wrote his name where she couldn’t see it and the shirt arm burned off in a way he couldn’t control.

Let me repeat that: IN HIS FIRST EVER MURDER, FREAKING LEON WAS SMARTER AND MORE CAREFUL THAN KANADE, A *SERIAL KILLER.*

Even Kirumi’s situation, where she lost a piece of her glove that proved vital in incriminating her, she lost it in the pool at a time she couldn’t get to it. That was bad luck. With Kanade, it was sheer incompetence.

I wouldn’t be making such a big deal about this if it wasn’t one of the key pieces of evidence that got her found out. And to make matters worse, she was actually planning on framing Iroha. Iroha. A girl whose only real method of attack is crying and pushing someone off a balcony. Did she seriously think anyone would buy that she not only killed Setsuka, but dismembered her and set her body up in a weird way?

Not that it matters, since her attempt at framing Iroha- knocking her out with spiked coffee- failed because she doesn’t even like coffee. This girl is not as meticulous or careful as she thinks she is.

And no, I’m not going to say that all of this is retroactively justified by Sora having Divine Luck and that’s why all of this happened. That reveal coming at the end does not justify any of this by any means. Please do not use “Fuck you, I’m lucky” in place of “Fuck you, I’m smart.” Nagito playing Russian Roulette with 5 bullets and winning is not the same as Kanade being incompetent and Sora having a gut feeling that it’s not over yet.

If you want to showcase a character being clever, you show them getting around difficult situations or fooling someone within the confines of established rules. You don’t just let them get away with whatever’s convenient for the moment.

But do you want to know what the worst aspect of this Chapter 3 is? I could maybe overlook all the other details- all of them- if this weren’t the case.

It’s how completely irrelevant this chapter is in the greater story.

Say what you will about the others, at least they feel like they’re part of a larger narrative- DR1′s was another motive, SDR2′s was as well and foreshadowed the Ultimate Despair twist, V3 was part of a reality show and was written by a creep with an incest fetish, and even DRA’s felt more in line with the story. But SDRA2′s? It feels like a completely separate story shoved in the middle of the existing one.

Kanade has no connection to the Voids or Mikado, not to Utsuro, not to the Despairs, not to any outside groups, not to Hope’s Peak, not even the Tragedy itself plays any role in her character. All she wants is to control Hibiki, and she only did all this because she was losing that control.

When you peel away all the shock value, Kanade is ultimately, like every serial killer out there, a painfully flat and boring character with shitty motivations to be a shitty human being. Her entire personality revolves around her creepy obsession with Hibiki; there is nothing deeper there, and LINUJ has even said that Kanade would’ve killed herself if Hibiki died. I don’t find someone like that very appealing nor interesting.

I don’t think I would mind all of this as much if she didn’t feel so completely disconnected from everything else in SDRA2, but she is and it is very apparent when you actually look at the story as a whole. Not even Mikado knew she was a serial killer and brought her in just because she had a vague connection to Tsurugi.

And what happens after the reveal of his girl who’s committed 60 murders? Who brutally butchered their friend, burned her letter and dragged another off to a horrible, unfair end with her and got everything she really wanted? Not much.

I can name about three things: Hibiki’s puppet state foreshadowing Yuki’s transformation, the implication that more time had passed than they’d realized and her burning Setsuka’s note. The latter is the only piece of the story that actually feels like it connects this chapter to the others. But after Kanade and Hibiki are gone, they’re barely even mentioned and it’s clear how little impact they had.

There’s also Iroha being revealed as a Void at the end of the Chapter, but that has nothing to do with Kanade and it really could’ve been placed anywhere, or even just left out entirely. Again, I question what the purpose of its inclusion is, especially since Chapter 4 could’ve done it much better. 

Now, one could argue that the relevance of this scene has more to do with themes about trust and sowing mistrust among the group. However, I feel that that’s more of an overarching narrative of any DR story, and one that Chapter 4 does substantially better with its exploration of Nikei as a major player, especially in the wake of Setsuka helping him, and us knowing Iroha is a void and wanting her to admit it so the group can work together.

The problem with this argument is that, for the most part, the concrete events of Chapter 3 are not followed-up on or carry over in a significant way like the reveal of the Voids or the virtual world. Kanade being a serial killer, in and of itself, feels largely like a tacked-on addition to the story, since, you know, it is.

What this means is that this is the only chapter 3 where you can skip it and miss basically nothing. Think about that: 1/6th of SDRA2- a full 16%- is completely irrelevant to the overarching story, all for the sake of emulating the worst part of V3. Granted, I don’t know how much better LINUJ’s original plan would’ve been, but I have my doubts it could be worse.

Ultimately, that’s why I find this chapter 3 to be the worst of them all: all the existing issues, but with the addition of too much shock value, serial killer glorification, Hibiki’s absolutely horrific SCDDS for the sake of a double execution, and just the fact that you can skip this entire chapter and miss nothing vital. I can’t even say that last part about any of the others, and that is unforgivable.

To anyone who genuinely wants to write anything DR-related, all I ask is that we retire the tropes of Chapter 3. Maybe then we can have some that are genuinely good.

[jextraordinaire]

I know I already reblogged a post about this but the thought of Wilbur going back to writing on the dream smp is stressing me out. I need to stop being protective of Technoblade's plotline and the dsmp plot in general but it's kinda hard. They're a huge part of my life (second to sleep and college) and seeing something I care about be "messed up" would really bother me.

In the interest of organization here's a list of poorly sourced paraphrased things that concern me in regards to Wilbur returning to writing. (In no particular order)

1) Technoblade's excitement about writing

In "a new home" Techno was so genuinely excited about writing. I just want him to be happy honestly

2) The revisions Techno made to Nov 16th

I'm sure everyone remembers how anticlimactic Nov 16th felt after Tubbo was declared president. It was way too easy since everyone defected from Schlatt. The Great President Handoff (tm) started to feel really lame after the dust had settled. All that work for nothing. But then c!Technoblade starts freaking out and goes rogue to fight the new dictatorship. And it was such a climatic ending

But if you remember, Techno said that Wilbur was gonna just have him as another fighter with no significant contributions. No vault, no withers, no Theseus. Maybe he would have managed to make the post president assignment less awkward and anticlimactic but I kinda doubt it. There wasn't much that could be done with it imo.

My point is collaborative story telling gave us Nov 16th not head writer Wilbur

3) Wilbur's cursed canon

The thing Wilbur said about being twins with Techno was never about the dsmp and rather the general family dynamic au that already existed (we know this because Wilbur said that in response to discourse about the au not canon). However the rest of Wilbur's cursed canon is still yikes. Having sex with a salmon, dating a sheep, the refrigerator mother, his references to the family dynamic on the server, etc. When Technoblade says "canon" for the 50th time when Tubbo dies no one takes it seriously. When Wilbur shitposts people update the wiki

4) Techno's commitment to clearing up false info

On a related note Techno's commitment to his characterisation keeps me going. He corrected the family dynamic and comes up with arguments against all the bad takes about his character. He makes fun of Tommy's blame game logic, fights bad character takes by other cc's and pushed for Nov 16th. I trust him to have our back on character and plot nonsense and Wilbur's sometimes opposite demeanor concerns me

5) Wilbur saying he would only come back to be head writer

Wilbur said (before the recent confirmation of him as a writer) that he would only come back if he was the head writer who got the final say. That obviously concerns me because he's coming back now, but the general attitude also feels bad. It insinuates that having his way in the writing is really important to him which doesn't bode well for other writers

6) Wilbur appreciating Tommy not wanting to control his character

Wilbur says (maybe in that same stream idk) that Tommy was super flexible with how Wilbur characterised him while Technoblade wasn't. I can't remember the wording but he sounding noticeably appreciative of Tommy's aquiesence to any sort of writing. Another attitude about writing that I worry won't mesh well

7) Wilbur saying he wanted more geopolitical plot

We have a lot of non geopolitical plot and I'm concerned for how he'd treat them

8) But like seriously Nov 16th??

9) How Philza got into the plot

Not a criticism but Phil got added to the plot and to the smp early because Wilbur wrote him in. What does that say for people Wilbur doesn't know who are running their own story lines. People got really mad over Niki not being involved in the plot like she wanted to and there was no head writer at the time. If you wanted your arc to be important you had to push for it. Now imagine Wilbur not letting someone into the central plot cause he's got his casting already prepared.

10) The exile arc would never have happened

Character driven story telling? Wilbur would never

11) The eggpire would definitely have not happened

Secondary plots that are supernatural and don't involve countries or politics?? No.

12) Techno's retirement arc would be unlikely

Certainly not with the level of development it got

13) -1000% chance of Doomsday happening

Large scale battle to settle conflict?? Not a chance

14) Tommy's hotel bit is cool after all the action

I feel like Tommy in the spotlight just gets repetitive. It's like a tv show desperately trying to make another season. I'm really glad Tommy stepping back from the eggpire arc and giving his character some room to breathe

15) Tommy's non dsmp videos are really good

Another point in the less main character Tommy please column. I personally find the mod videos so much more entertaining than his dsmp stuff. I feel like spending all your time on a server either walk around aimlessly or roleplaying a character someone else made just isn't peak content. Tommy vibing in non plot streams was where his better dsmp content came from. And now he's vibing in videos not even in the server

16) Wilbur plot holes

Despite being a writer before want collaborative story telling, Wilbur's writing has a lot of lore breaking plot holes. The family dynamic obviously, but also the age and death stuff. Fundy's age is a mess and Wilbur writing Phil in as his dad made it so much worse. Is Phil supposed to be 50? How old is Fundy actually? The inconsistency between which lives mattered and which didn't also came about while Wilbur was writing. A fan theory came in clutch but it was very frustrating before that point

17) Wilbur's joke about writing Ranboo out of the story

Obviously a joke but I dislike the implications that he would have that much power over other people's characters

------------

In summary no hate to Wilbur he's a super cool guy. Not all of this is his fault; I'm just concerned and wanted to vent. I trust Technoblade to put his foot down about writing but also I fear

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Mod, who are your top 10 favorite characters and top 10 least favorite?

//I have actually been wanting to discuss something like this, so I’m glad someone brought it up to me.

//I’ll go through with this, but I won’t be discussing my least favorites, since I don’t want to bring any negativity, and to be honest, I enjoy writing pretty much everyone in this blog. I also fear if I share who my least favorites are in the main series, said characters won’t get as many asks, and I don’t want any unfair bias. I can definitely admit to hating Haiji though, because...well...he obviously won't be receiving any questions anymore. Besides, I doubt many people will disagree with me.

Honorable Mentions:

Makoto Naegi

Mahiru Koizumi

Kirumi Tojo

Kaede Akamatsu

Tsumugi Shirogane

Shuichi Saihara

Iroha Nijiue

Mikihiko Koyasunaga

Yoruko Kabuya

Tsurugi Kinjo

Uchui Porosen

Kibin Hatsudoki

//Though to be honest, everyone may as well be an honorable mention because I love writing every single one of these guys. Also, like I just said, don’t let this top 10 affect your asks. I love every character in this blog and I’m happy to make asks for each and every one of them. It was really hard to narrow it down to 10

#10: Tenko Chabashira

This might seem a little surprising, given that Tenko hasn't had a whole lot of screen time and story relevance so far. She's only been prominent in two arcs, Deadly Harmony and Novoselic Revolution, both of which she didn't have as much screen time as most of the other characters. However, not to spoil anything major, I have big plans for her, and what I've pulled out of her so far is something I'm proud of. My main goal is mainly to give her a bit of development, and tone down on the sexism element of her character. Not remove it entirely, mind you, because let's be real, Tenko unfortunately isn't Tenko without it, but basically to not do what the DR dev team did and make it the forefront of her character, while her other exceedingly good traits are just at the back until later on in the story.

#09: Kokichi Ouma

Kokichi is one of, if not, my favorite character in the original DR series. My main goal of him in this series is trying to grapple with his constantly changing attitude, mainly towards the DRV3 cast besides himself. At first he's glad to see them, then he turns spiteful towards Shuichi and Kaede when they try to fight him, then he straight up just abandons them and attempts to cut off contact. As he is right now, he's conflicted about how to feel about everyone. Sure, they all still hate him, but during Cabaret Kyojin's they came to his defense when he most needed it. That whole arc might've seemed pretty pointless and acted as needless filler, but my true intention of it was to flesh out the characters involved, mainly Kokichi and Kuripa. Speaking of which, that's another plot point that I'm looking forward to branching upon: the little companionship those two have going on right now.

#08: Monaca Towa

Monaca is a character I actually tend to struggle with in the grand scheme of things. The reason being that, arguably, she in canon is the second biggest antagonist in the series behind Junko. What I tried to do with Survivor though, is not make her an antagonist, but make her slowly become more and more redeemable, despite her actions. The reason why I went with this approach is mainly due to Monaca's last appearance in the series, where she states to Toko and Komaru that she's kind of just done with everything to do with Junko and Despair. I don't think it would be easy to bring her back as an antagonist because of THAT fiasco, and that is legitimately one of favorite scenes of her...which is funny because it's from DR3 and I kinda hate the anime. Her whole presence in Survivor is based around the idea of trying to seek redemption, but she doesn't outwardly want to admit this, nor does she really think she's worthy or deserving of said redemption. She's an adult now, and she grew a conscience. A guilty one that weighs her down and makes her come back to earth to basically settle things and make peace, and though it's been difficult, I love how she's turned out so far.

#07: Akira Tsuchiya

I understand many have their reservations about Akira after what he did this arc, but he's still legitimately one of my favorite villains in this blog because despite the fact that he's a psychopath who kills and ruins people all just for causing Despair, he's just kinda super relatable. He constantly lives with the attitude of just being done with everyone's shit, and I know a lot of DR fans can relate to that. He's also the kind of guy who marches to the beat of his own drum, which is obviously a very slow beat. He rarely ever does what Tsumugi tells him to do, unless the plan interests him or gives him something to do, and his character in general is based around the idea of "Shut-in NEET who just so happens to have a power complex." Overall, what makes him unique to me is just how normal he is, especially when he's compared to the chaotic sea that is the Danganronpa Villains.

#06: Mikan Tsumiki

Novoselic Revolution had the very important role in the story of mending Mikan. Without her efforts and the sacrifices she made in that arc, there's a high chance that the group would have failed to retake the kingdom from Angie and Mikihiko. It goes without saying that the screentime Mikan got in this arc was some of my absolute favorite moments on this blog from a writers perspective. A lot of people in DR dislike Mikan for her actions and character change in the third case of the second game, which I really don't think is fair. Mikan was just the character chosen to be afflicted with the Despair Disease. Nothing else would have been changed had it been a different character, so her role early on in Survivor is mainly her trying to come to terms with her actions, as well as things like making things right with Hiyoko (and Ibuki by extrension) and reevaluating whether or not she's a good person. Mikan is an emotionally and mentally broken child, and it's my full intent in my writing of her to heal her wounds like she does for so many other people.

#05: Narumi Osone

Easily my favorite Zetsubou villain in the blog. During Novoselic Revolution, I really buttered up how much I enjoyed writing Mikihiko, but in reality, I was just waiting for the Rebirth Duo (her and Akira) to burst onto the scene. She didn't make for as great a twist villain in Life and Lies of Akeru Yozora as I would've liked her to be, but even now, I still feel like she left an impact. I mean, she committed quite the number of atrocities. The main reason why I like Narumi though, is how she diverges from the rest of the Zetsubou group. While most of them are doing their evil things for reasons that constitute to causing as much Despair as possible, she does it for almost the complete opposite reason. She absolutely despises Despair, and the only reason she's with Organization Zetsubou, is so that she can patiently await and watch as the Hope that stems from the people fighting back. It's also plays into her ideal. Narumi is so obsessed with Hope that she believes that anyone and everyone who is without hope, and gives into Despair, doesn't deserve to live (and ideal that also allows her to easily hit it off with Nagito). To name the best example: The UUV. Their revenge fantasy is based around the Despair they feel post Ayumu and Marin's deaths, and not around the Hope of their goal of reforming society, even if by force. When Narumi notices this, is angers her so much she murders all of them in cold blood, believing them to be beyond redemption. As a final note, Narumi's violent nature and lust for bloodshed (and lest not forget her weird obsession with Makoto) is also made all the more tragic when you remember she's literally just a 14 year old kid with not a lot of life experience. For someone to be this far gone at such a young age is pretty depressing, but it also provides me with a lot of great writing opportunities, and god damn it she isn't a fun character to write.

#04: Mukuro Ikusaba.

I could pretty much just copy/paste the basic things I said about Monaca's personal conflict for Mukuro, but on a much more extreme level. This is something that I plan on actually branching on later down the line, but Mukuro's backstory and reason why she has a presence here is briefly mentioned by Sayaka in one post. To sum up what she said, when the Foundation were first starting to use the machines to bring back the victims of the first killing game, Makoto was the one who suggested possibly bringing Mukuro back, something that understandably, his classmates initially were against. However, at the time, Kyoko was still new to being the Foundation Chairwoman, and Makoto very much pressed the issue with her. Kyoko eventually agreed to the resurrection, but in exchange, any and all actions committed by the soldier, most notably any treacherous or bad ones, would subsequently be Makoto's responsibility. Of course, as you can imagine, Makoto accepted these terms, and Mukuro was resurrected. For a while afterwards, many were very wary of her presence, and most didn't outright accept her as a member of the Foundation, even when the Remnants of Despair officially signed up. What you have to remember is that Mukuro wasn't really brainwashed into helping Junko, at least not in the same way that the Remnants were. Most of what she did for Junko is what she did willingly, but Makoto felt that in reality, Mukuro was just another one of Junko's victims and she'd never known Hope in her life, which is why she turned out so chaotic, so his whole intention of reviving her was to redeem her honor, of which he was pretty much successful. The main trait of Mukuro's though that I tend to focus on, is arguably her most serious: her PTSD. Of all the characters who could have been hit hard with PTSD, it makes the most sense for it to be a soldier, and since the beginning of her revival, Mukuro has been cursed by the lingering ghost of her dead Despair sister. Junko's presence in her mind less drives Mukuro insane though, and simply makes her doubt herself and her presence, wondering if it was worth being revived, or whether or not she truly deserves to live. But regardless of how she feels, she's duty bound to the end, and still supports everyone unquestionably, especially towards those in her own branch being Makoto, her boss, the man who saved her, and of course her undeniable love interest, and Kuripa to whom she disciplines, but also acts as a mother/big sister figure to.

#03: Hajime Hinata.

It might just be me, but I feel like Hajime in particular is the fan fav in this blog. I feel he's shown up in more posts than any other character, which is fine by me given he's also one of my personal favorite characters, and is probably my favorite protagonist (it really changes depending on my mood, honestly, I think they're all as great as each other). The remnants of Despair's conflict is an obvious one that you commonly see in post-game fics such as this one, and in Survivor, and my personal opinion, Hajime is undoubtedly the one who has it the hardest. However, out of all of the characters in the series who HAVE trauma (and let's be real, that's undoubtedly a LOT of characters in both DR canon, and this blog) he's also undoubtedly the one who handles it the best. However, there is a limit to how much pressure he can take, and that causes him to lash out (like he did with Mahiru during Misfortune's Revenge, which I know we don't like to talk about but its the most notable example). He's been through a whole load of shit and the pressure is constantly crushing him like a gigantic boulder, yet he still forces himself to carry it. Outside of my own writing, Hajime has so many conflicting thoughts and trauma in other fics, and in Survivor, I don't intend to flat out copy them, but I do desire to live up to them. The reason why Hajime has so many burdens placed upon him, and as of Misfortune's Revenge now has double as many, yet is still able to keep going strong, is because he's no longer allowing himself to be weighed down by events that are in the past and out of his control. What makes his ideal unique, is that he has power, almost limitless amounts of it, but instead of focusing on what he can do with it, he's more conflicted and focused on what he CAN'T do, and changing the past is one thing he can't, and as of such doesn't focus on it. He only ever focuses on the present, and the future, and worries about that. And you've got to hand it to the guy, while it's definitely been better, his life is actually super good right now. He has at least 15 really great friends/found family members, a home on an island resort, an AI companion in his phone who will always help him out and support him, a smoking-hot red-haired girlfriend, a pretty good job and a lot more. For him, it's not simply a matter of abiding by the Foundation and fixing the chaos that he indirectly caused. It's also about the fear of losing what he has, and wanting to protect it.

#02: Ayumu Fujimori.

I've said this one or two times before, but I think Ayumu turned out spectacular, and when I eventually had to kill him off, I felt really bad about doing so. The main reason why I removed him, and why I currently don't have any plans to bring him back, is due to my future plans, having him around would make little to no sense. He serves mainly as a catalyst for the new phase of the story, a much darker one, and with his death, we enter that phase. I know many people are worried about it, but it's not just Ayumu's reason for being in the story that makes him great. While it isn't obvious right away, the main character that I was trying to portray with him, is that he's basically the darker side of Hajime. The two of them share very similar traits in character, personality and backstory. Some notable points would be

Both of them are incredibly self-doubtful, and that self-doubt caused them to become Ultimate Hopes.

Both of them once held huge admiration for a powerful group of people. For Hajime it was Hope's Peak and for Ayumu it was the Japanese Government

Said power called them useless, which led to their transformation

Both have pretty sad backstories, which involve two different types of cruel parents and family's.

They both have a best friend who likes to sleep.

Said best friend ended up dying horribly right in front of them, with them both unable to do anything about it, which eventually leads them both to go insane and make some bad decisions.

Though their methods differ, ultimately, they both want the same thing: a brighter future for their friends and the people they love

Ayumu might be a threat, and an antagonist, but he doesn't really count as a "villain" per se. At the core, he's basically just a misguided young man, who the world treated like shit, so he just wants to get back at it. He's also an influential figure, pulling many people into his fight, and gaining many supporters outside of his friends in the UUV. For the short time he was on the blog, he was an absolute BLAST to write, and you can damn sure bet I'm going to miss him.

#01: Kuripa Kurafto.

This is undoubtedly the riskiest part of this list, especially since we're talking about an OC here, but I also think a lot of you guys saw this coming. I can understand why some of you might disagree with me on this placement, but I'll tell you now, if you're unimpressed, trust me, I am barely scratching the surface of Kuripa's character. As of such, I have to go on this based off of what's already known about him. His whole character I feel comes full circle at the end of the Ultra Despair Gang arc, in which the first monumental event in the blog actually happens: him killing Haiji Towa by stabbing him in the gut and sending him falling to his death. This is then followed by a speech to Makoto, Komaru, Toko and Byakuya, which basically lays out the key part of Kuripa's character, being his ideals. Every protagonist in Danganronpa goes by a certain ideal that contrasts that of their enemies. For Makoto, it's Hope, for Hajime, it's Future, and for Shuichi it's truth. Kuripa is the complete reverse, being a protagonist that represents Despair. He's not outright a villain, or even a generally bad guy, but he definitely has some apparent darkness to him, and is also incredibly violent when at the peak of rage. Of course, it all stems from a huge event in his life, the murder of his little sister Kotoko by the hands of Matta Gyalusetsu, which has led to his over-arcing conflict: his desire to find Matta and kill him as revenge. I tend to hate characters in stories who have the "My Sister is Dead" archetype or trope, but the main reason is because most characters who have that JUST have that, and for Kuripa that's something I'm trying to avoid. One of the most important parts of Kuripa's character is the contrast between his dark, almost psychopathic side that believes murder is a suitable way to indefinitely solve a problem, and his regular self, who to put simply, is a complete and total clown. He's like a walking meme, and makes a total fool out of himself, either through just being a mindless tomfool, a playful perv, or a loveable idiotic otaku. Still, his presence is indeed important to everyone around him, especially seen through his interactions with Makoto, Kibin, Mukuro, Uchui, Kokichi, The Kyojin's and the High Roller staff. This is another thing in regards to Kuripa's conflict that is quite saddening to. Similar to Hajime, as things currently stand, Kuripa has an excellent life. He's a successful animator who makes a lot of money from his work, he enjoys his time at the Future Foundation and really looks up to both Makoto and Mukuro who both treat him with a reciprocated amount of respect, he gets to work in tangent with his best friend, he has many pals, some of which are part of an anime club, and on top of it all, he has a cute girlfriend who playfully flirts back and forth with him all the time. He has everything a guy could possibly ever want, but due to his one track mind, he can never be satisfied knowing Kotoko's killer is still out there, and he will do whatever it takes to avenge her...even if he needs to cut a few people down to get it...

//Doing this kind of self-reflective character analysis is pretty refreshing and fun to be honest, although, doing it makes it sound like I have a big head, and am complementary of my own writing where I know many might disagree with my techniques and opinions. You're free to, believe me, but please keep any criticism constructive.

-Mod

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Big TW: mental health, si/sh, suicide mentions/discussion

Mod: Compiling all the anon responses to one post from last week into this one, so anyone who is sensitive to this topic can scroll happily by.

This might be particularly intense reading for the Anon it’s in reply to, so only open the post if you feel like it Anon. They replied/updated on the original confession also (I think it’s the same Anon), and imo they were just venting in their original post and it was not made with bad intentions.

Thank you Anons for submitting your varied perspectives and insight on this topic.  ❤️

are you fucking kidding me? if your cope is a bjd that's fine, but here's the thing, buy a cheap legit!!! Or buy your fucking recast and enjoy it in silence instead of trying to legitimize it! Having a mental illness does NOT give you a free pass to be a asshole nor absolve you of the consequences of your own actions. Signed, someone who actually acted out on their suicidal ideation but thankfully didn't succeed.

~Anonymous

Mod: I’m glad you’re ok now Anon ❤️

"Don't be mean to anti artists because they might unalive themselves?" Ok. Now make the post saying "don't spit in the face of the artists who make this hobby possible and support the theft of their work because crushing their spirit and breaking their heart might make them unalive themselves." Or maybe you're just playing favorites in your suicide narrative?

~Anonymous

https://true-bjd-confessions.tumblr.com/post/649109294780907520/tw-suicidal-ideation-before-you-bash-someone-or I hope you realize that you are committing actual gaslighting with that. And just to be sure that people don’t think I’m just claiming this to deflect. In this specific case, I’d say it’s the: Gasligthing of someone spreading information, in an attempt to make someone doubt their own judgement (of a situation, or their own morals). There are other additions to the definition, like, over time gaslighting, or questioning ones own sanity, and memories, but I was just going to point out this one, or one part of gaslighting. Since it really sounds like it wants the reader to doubt their own morale judgement, about a situation, by inserting a very emotional, and serious topic, and pushing the idea of the persons opinion is going to cause someone’s death. Basically: What you are doing is gaslighting people into questioning their own judgments, and deliberately pushing them into the idea they might cause someone’s self harm, and subsequent death, if they dare, openly, hold a bad opinion, about recasters, and recast buyers. I would also like to just openly say that I find it incredibly gross to use topics of suicide, to guilt trip people, and it really sounds like a way to play the oppression game. You could just have mentioned how bullying people is wrong for owning recasts, something that is known of, and even frowned on by many, but instead, you used suicide as a tool, and even clearly use it, with no actual situation backing it, just to guilt trip, and make sure to try and make the person into being a bad person, just for holding an anti-recast stance, just because someone owning a recast might be suicidal. With this point: “ Your words might be that one drop that… ” you are literally shifting the blame to the anti-recaster, or a much larger issue a person suffer. Which isn’t only ridiculous, but also incredibly damaging to people who might suffer this mental state. Honestly, I’ll just say it again, using serious stuff, ranging from abuse, verbal-physical-sexual, to self harm, and in this case: suicide, just to make people feel bad, because they disapprove of your fake doll, is incredibly manipulative, and disgusting, because you’re using the specific topic of suicide, to just further a personal agenda. I’m not really sure what else to say. Using suicide to push this agenda, is incredibly disgusting, and even if you suffer from thoughts of self harm, it’s not the way to go, to pull strangers into this, and basically blame them for these actions. You also clearly didn’t seem to think, what implying blame to another person, or group of people, might do to their mental state. If you suffer from thoughts of self-harm, please call the suicide hotline, or try contacting, or receiving help. This links has a FEW numbers for suicide hotlines, and if you ever think you might need it, one call can help you find help. https://ibpf.org/resource/list-of-international-suicide-hotlines/

~Anonymous

I want to rebound on the confession with a suicide ideation. As others pointed out, it's not because you are unwell (as in clinically depressed) that you cannot be called out for your bad behavior. However,  bullying is never acceptable in my book. Never. Being called out isn't harassment. Cyber bullying and threats, however, are harassment and are more illegal as, let's say, owning a counterfeit. Two wrongs doesn't make a right and some people must remember this. I've seen it too much.

~Anonymous

It's SO nice to see that Shit-posts and Vic3mage are pro-suicide. Yes recasts are theft but that should NEVER be an excuse to verbally abuse someone to the point of wanting to commit suicide or self-harm. "That's on YOU." So what you're saying it that this type of behavior is okay? It's disgusting.

~Anonymous

Ok, so, I’ll just say it straight, or gay for those who need that. If you use suicide to guilt trip people about disliking recasts, you’re an asshole, like, goatse levels of asshole size. What is it with people, and using the most extreme examples, to try and make others the villains? It sounds really fucky, to put recasts, and the dislike of them, in the same situation suicide blaming. If someone said that for the opposite side of things, would you, or other recasters agree with the sentiment of: “You as recasters, and pro recasters, are to blame, for sculptors, and artists not being able to feed themselves, and considering suicide. Your actions, might be the last drop for them to do it.” This is just an example to show how fucked up it is to say that by the way, if it was the other way around as well. Would you agree with this? Would you think it’s fair? Would you accept the blame if that happened? Would you say that recasters, and pro recasters, are the reason someone is “at the brink”? Oh you do mention that people should get help, sure, but it in no ways justifies the absolutely 1 guy, 1 jar level of butthurt you show, when pushing the idea that anti recast people might cause someone to end it, just because they’re vocally against recasts.

~Anonymous

Anon from the depressed recast confession from earlier. Thanks to the mod for the kind words and support. And thank you for the comments. I understand your point. But you don't seem to understand mine. I've owned this recast for a few years. I bought it second hand from a friend that got me into the hobby and didn't really understand the whole recast legit thing back then. I just really loved her collection and wanted to be part of her hobby, so I was more than happy when she offered me one of her dolls. I have changed her face-up and built a story around the doll. I put a lot of own effort in.

It wasn't like "Oops, I feel depressed. Guess I'm gonna buy a recast on the internet to piss people off and harm artists. My depression justifies this action", no. I just think telling someone they ain't worth shit, telling them "kys" and witch hunting them aren't the right way to go. You don't know anything about that person except "they own recast. bad person". For exactly that reason I think it might be good to just block them, or explain to them without any hard feelings if they don't know anything about recasts. They're still human beings worth of life. Maybe talk to them on a respectful level to understand each other better. Sorry for the long confession or if it upsets anyone, that's not my intention.

~Anonymous

[quotes-of-dreamland]

my last ask for the night:

i am the one who made the "least fav" joke. this was COMPLETELY lighthearted, and it was just making fun of the idea of favorite mods

i then replied with "don't worry, ..." thinking there might have been a mixup or something, but i guess it just made it worse

lastly, i replied with "was NOT ..." for the same reason

i have not sent any other asks on this topic, so in case it isn't clear, i do not have a favorite or least favorite or any other view of the mods

frankly, i always enjoy seeing content from the less active mods because i think they all should be recognized for their contributions

of course no amount of explaining will change anything, as usual im misunderstood, but i guess it doesn't matter, so

I'm sorry.

/g

Mod Taranza:

Thank you for coming forward and being honest. We don’t accept your apology, or at least I sure as hell don’t. I never will. Call me cruel, but I’m putting my foot down on this. It wasn’t even funny as a joke. In what universe would that be a funny joke? I’ve been bullied with that kind of implication before. I’ve had to seriously fear my friends forgetting about me before and feeling like the odd one out. I cannot stress enough how inappropriate that was. You weren’t making a joke, you were just being the thing.

SECONDLY, you don’t come back saying sorry to begin with and clearing up the mistake, you just add onto it and adding further stress onto it when we set a boundary on “don’t do this kind of talk please”

But that didn’t stop there either! You just kept fucking going long after you should have taken the initial post as your warning and stop. This isn’t just being socially inept or ignorant, this was straight up unacceptable. Do you have any idea what kind of fucking panic you caused? Just how frantic everyone was tonight trying to keep calm in this? You caused one of the mods, no not just that, one of my best friends to feel absolutely horrible. They felt so horrible they wanted to scream, and I had to sit and scroll through all this bullshit.

Normally, I wouldn’t be so bothered. Normally I could just let this all slide off me and continue on! But this. This was fucking unacceptable. I don’t care who you are. I don’t care whatever issues you have. You should have known better. If you’re old enough to be using the internet and talking with people, you should have known better by now not to do this ever.

So please. If you’re really sorry. If you hold any true shred of regret. Don’t talk to us ever again. I don’t want to see your kind of talk here again. Let us try to get over this in our own time and grow to trust our own followers and audience again for the fifth time this god damn year. Because if this were up to me you would be blocked from ever interacting with anything we do ever again. Good fucking riddance.

Bandana Moddle Dee: Honestly, it sucks that I have to drop the persona that I like to be for this, but fading away is something that I fear nightly. To essentially be told that I’m a side character hurts. I usually don’t butt in on these since I don’t think what was done was that bad. This is an exception. I’m not sorry. The door is that way.

Mod Susie: Your first ask was an opportunity for us to set a boundary that was overdue to be set. That was me saying 'this is not an okay thing for you to say.' That was strike one. THEN, you came back by digging yourself a deeper hole, trying to defend yourself. Despite this not being the opinion you held, you still tried to defend it. Strike two. Then you pushed the issue ONE MORE TIME. Strike three. I'm glad you apologized. Let me be less vague: This is a boundary. This is a boundary and we will not tolerate it. Thank you. Have a good [timezone].

Mod Lor: I'm like Moddle Dee in that I usually stay out of this sort of thing, but this is too much for me to simply ignore.

Do you have any fucking idea how this makes us all feel?

I don't care what the hell kind of justification you have. I don't give one damn single electron-sized flying FUCK if you thought what you were saying is funny or uplifted the mods you're putting on a pedestal. In the very best case scenario, it was a backhanded compliment. Putting a few of us up on shiny special pedestals, ignoring the fact it implies the rest of us are lesser or inferior. Our activity on this blog isn't a fucking contest.

Now, let me speak about myself for a moment. This is the first group of friends I've had in literal YEARS where I DIDN'T feel like an outsider or extra or third wheel. I've lived practically my entire life feeling like the permanent new kid in school with every group I've been a part of; like I was never part of them really. Sure, people said they were friends with me, but were they really? Or was I just the extra unwanted person that they were too scared to tell to leave? Yeah, just imagine living like that for over a decade..

Things have been different here. I actually feel like one of the members in this group, not an extra.. Do you think for one millisecond that it's ok to invalidate that? To once again label me and others as just side characters among their own friends? Because if you do, here comes a reality check!

This isn't a game. This isn't a fucking TV show, or a book, or a play. We are REAL PEOPLE. We are REAL FRIENDS who run this blog because we wanted to share our enjoyment of a series with our followers. We have REAL FEELINGS. So if you're going to stomp all over that just to make some shitty, unfunny, underhanded joke?

Get the fuck away from us, get the fuck away from this blog, and get the fuck away from this entire god damned website.

[heysimhey]

Play The Sims 2 in The Sims 4!

I've been simming since 2000 beginning with The Sims 1. Of all the versions of the game, The Sims 2 version has always been my favorite mainly due to the character stories. Even when The Sims 3 came out, I still was tied to the characters and stories of version 2 and it never quite felt right. Then The Sims 4 came out and I was excited to see the Goths, but the story line was "wrong". My beloved characters were missing. I played for a few years and then went back to 2. I loved the stories of 2, but the game play and graphics of 4. What's a girl to do?

Create the Sims 2 character and stories in the Sims 4? Yeah, that actually works for me....and was a lot of work as well.

I didn't bring over the characters from every world in TS2. The reason being, I never really cared for any of the other characters from the neighborhoods like Belladonna Cove, Riverblossom Hills or Desiderata Valley. In fact, I can honestly say, I never even bothered playing Desiderata Valley. I had enough drama with the main three (Pleasantview, Strangetown and Veronaville....and Bluewater Village).

But wasn't it crazy that with every neighborhood, you got a separate and exactly the same Bluewater Village from scratch? So a different Malcom Landgraab everytime. The Malcom Landgraab from Strangetown didn't know the Pleasantview folks and vice versa. I always found that wacky, so I picked the ML from Pleasantview to play with and abandoned the other dopplegangers.

And why couldn't the Goths know the Smiths? Why couldn't the Pleasants have a barbecue with the Monty's? Why couldn't sims from one neighborhood have friendships/rivalries and romances with sims from another neighborhood? Well, now they can! Pleasantview, Strangetown (Strangerville), Veronaville and Bluewater Village are all open and connected in The Sims 4! I even threw in some goodies like the Newbies and Mashugas from The Sims 1 and that mean ole Mrs. Crumplebottom!

I tried my best to find original renditions of their homes from TS2. As you know, aspirations have changed a little bit, but I tried my darndest to stay true to their aspirations from TS2 with the help of other personality traits along the side. I have already played the neighborhoods to the point of where TS2 begins, with the proper relationships established, ghosts deceased (check out Olive Specter's lil' grim garden *shudder*) and everyone in their proper lots.

Original sims who came with TS4 are still around somewhere in the neighborhood bin. I evicted most of them to make room for my characters. Below are details for each neighborhood that I put together.

Huge shout-out to Midnite Tech for creating the package file that allows us to edit our World names.

The packs I have installed currently are: Get to Work, Get Together, City Living, Get Famous, Discover University, Strangerville, Dine Out, Movie Hangout Stuff, Vintage Glamour Stuff, Tiny Living Stuff and Holiday Celebration.

I wish I could say this is Base Game compatible, but unfortunately, you will need these packs in order to have the full experience. I will be purchasing the other packs as I choose in the future, but for right now, I'm good.

About Pleasantview (Willow Creek)

The Goths, Pleasants, Calientes, Dreamers and Brokes are here and are cued as best as possible to their TS2 initial situations. I also included Bob and Betty Newbie from TS1, whom we later found out were Brandi's parents. Their relationship is also reflected in this file. The notorious maid, Kaylynn Langerak is also residing in Pleasantview and is bound to cause some ruckus.

About Strangerville (Strangetown)

The Smiths, Grunts, Curiouses, Beakers and Specters are in full play with the appropriate ghosts haunting Olive's lot. Bella was definitely abducted by aliens (although we can't view all of their memories anymore) and dropped in Strangeville just the same as Strangetown's TS2. She has a story of her own. Thankfully, you can easily decide to reunite her with her family, or let her start a new life. Caution, the neighborhoods are connected, so she is bound to run into one of her relatives.

*For WHATEVER reason, the file would NOT let me change the name of Strangerville to Strangetown.  It may have something to do with the whole Strangerville story line.  But I have seen others edit this.  Ah well.*

About Veronaville (Windenburg)

The Capp, Monty and Summerdream families are here with the Monty/Capp feud still going strong. Romeo and Juliette are still in love. Awwwww. I almost never played this neighborhood, but it just wouldn't feel right if I didn't include them.

About Bluewater Village (Newcrest)

The Landgraab, Tinker, Ramirez, Jacquet and Delarosa characters came on over with their aspirations. J'Adore Bakery is owned by the Jacquets, but I didn't create the other businesses.

About Downtown (San Myshuno)

This is where you will find the notorious Mrs. Crumplebottom. She is content in her little house right smack dab where it is and you better stay off her lawn. I heard Malcom Landgraab III offered her a ton of money to move so he could build a new skyrise. She refused to sell and clobbered him with her purse. So he built around her. Malcom Landgraab IV is terrified of her due to the fact that he remembers the huge knot his father had to nurse all those years ago, so he continues his father's legacy of building around her. She ain't budging.

About Twikkii Springs (Oasis Springs)(Twikkii Island)

I named this Twikkii Springs instead of Twikkii Island because Oasis Springs isn't really an island, so it didn't make much sense. So I modified it to be Twikkii Springs. I used Zerbu's World Type Changes mod to make Oasis Springs a destination world. The Mashuga's currently run things here in their token pink octogon house. At least, in my head they do. You can play this however you want. You can get the mod here or don't use the mod and play it as is.

Honorable Mentions

Del Sol Valley

I left these named the same as we didn't really have a fame expansion for TS2. I was tempted to name it Studio Town like in TS1, but that just sounded too "Toon-Town"ish, so nah, pass. I like Del Sol Valley.

Magnolia Promenade

I totally tried to rename this to Uptown Bluewater, but the game said nope. So Magnolia Promenade it is. Maybe one day the powers that bEA will be nice and allow us to freely rename our worlds....or is that wishful thinking?

*************

Majority of the lots that you see here in these worlds, I downloaded from the gallery. I won't feel bad at all if you wanna change things up.

The custom maps that I used for my worlds, you will have to install them separately in order for your neighborhoods to look like my pictures above.  You can get the maps here.

*************

DID I MISS SOMETHING?? I tried my best to make this as close to the original TS2 version as possible, but the human in me probably forgot a detail or two. Let me know!

{HOW TO INSTALL}

1. Download my save file here. (SFS not working? Get it here instead.)

2. Then copy the file from your downloads folder into this path: my documents/electronic arts/the sims 4/saves | NOT your mods, tray folder or any other folder.

3. When you open the game, you should see the file The Sims 2 Reprise. :)

{TERMS OF USE}

Feel free to use this save file and have fun with your sims. If you make a video, please let me know. I totally would love to see how others play with this world. I would appreciate a shout out too!

I'm @HeySimHey on Twitter and Instagram and HeySimHey on Youtube. I'll be glad to hear from you!

[sparkly-despair-imagines]

Can i ask V3 boys + Makoto naegi getting trap in a closet with S/o as they are trap S/O confess her true feeling, with there reactions?

Kaito and Makoto get trapped in a closet with s/o and she confesses to them

I’m sorry it took so long! I wrote a lot so I only did two characters, I hope it’s alright!

Mod Dia

Makoto Naegi

The teacher had asked you to go get some materials from the closet and Makoto offered to go with you to help you carry the supplies.

You left the classroom and walked to the closet, making small talk with the boy along the way.

“Hey s/o do you think you could pick up these rulers while I get that box over there?” He pointed to a cardboard box that was placed on the top shelf.

It would prove hard to get it without a stepladder and Makoto probably wasn’t the more indicated person to do the job as he’s not that tall, but he was determined to help and you didn’t want to break his spirit.

“Sure!”

You started picking up the rulers one by one when you heard the heavy metal door suddenly shut behind you.

“Uh, Makoto?”

“..Yeah.?”

You turned to face your classmate, who was still on his tiptoes trying to reach the box.

“Pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to happen.” You gestured with your head towards the door.

“The door is not locked, I think you should be able to open it.” He was focused on the task at hand, barely looking in your direction as he spoke.

You placed your hand on the door’s handle, pressing it down and pulling. Nothing happened.

You tried again.

And again.

And then once more.

No matter if you pulled or pushed, it wasn’t going to open.

“It won’t budge!”

“Do you want me to try?” He turned around.

“That’s probably a good idea, maybe you can get it to open.”

“I don’t know about that, but we’ll see.”

He started making his way to the door when his foot got caught on something, causing him to trip and fall on his nose, a big pile of school supplies dropping on top of him.

“Makoto!!” You ran to his side and helped him sit up. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” He gave you a tight lipped smile. “I’m lucky that I was the one tripping, if it was you I’d feel really bad.”

“Don’t say that.” You pouted. “You shouldn’t have come with me, now we’re both stuck here and you’re hurt.”

“I’m okay, really. Let’s just see if we can get someone’s attention and hopefully we’ll be out of here in no time.”

You shouted for some minutes and hit the door with your full force but no one seemed to hear you.

Defeated, you sat down next to Makoto, letting out a big sigh.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure at least the teacher will notice that we’re missing.” He bumped your shoulder with his in a playful manner. “Come on, you’ll be laughing about this later.”

“Do you think..” You started speaking but then regretted it and stopped mid sentence.

“What?”

“Do you, uh- Is it bad that I’m kind of happy that we’re stuck together?” You fidgeted with the brim of your skirt. “Well, of course I didn’t want you to be locked in a moldy closet but hum, you get what I mean...”

“You’re happy you’re stuck here w-with me?” You could see him blush to the roots of his hair.

“Yeah...” You looked away. “It’s weird isn’t it? It’s definitely weird-“

“I feel the same way.” This time it was him who looked away. “There’s no one I’d rather be stuck here with than you, s/o.”

He chuckled at his own sentence in nervousness and at how corny it sounded.

“I was planning on confessing my feelings some other time but screw it-” You took a deep breath. “I’m in love with you Makoto.”

He went even more red, something you didn’t think was possible.

“Y-you... I-” He stuttered. “I love you too.!”

“I’m glad.” You giggled and took his hand in yours.

He smiled.

His big contagious smile that always makes you feel butterflies in your stomach...

Kaito Momota

That afternoon you were attending his aunt’s wedding.

He was told he could bring a plus one so of course he was bringing his amazing sidekick!

You had already gotten ready so you went to his house so you two could go together.

When you arrived he was still sleeping so you woke him up and told him to get ready in ten minutes or otherwise you’d both be late because of him.

“Oh shit!” He got up and started preparing himself as quickly as he could.

You sat down on his bed while you were waiting for him.

“Could you please get me my tie?” He shouted from the bathroom as he tried to tame the mess that was his hair.

“Sure.” You opened his closet and looked around for the item.

You looked up and there it was! The tie was on the very first shelf counting from the top, meaning that even if you jumped you wouldn’t be able to reach it.

“Who the hell even puts a tie in a place like this...” You said under your breath. “Kaito I can’t reach it!”

You heard a loud exasperated sigh and he stomped to the bedroom again, hairbrush still in hand.

“Okay but why do I even need to wear a tie?” He made his way to the closet.

“It’s a wedding, formal attire is required!” You stepped aside letting him in.

Kaito put his foot on the shelf closest to the floor and tried to lift his body up but ended up knocking down something in the process and articles of clothing started raining, one shoe hitting you in the face and making you lose balance.

To try to stop your fall you held onto the door handle but you managed to accidentally close it and still fall on your butt.

“S/o are you ok!??” He helped you up. “Geez, you’re so clumsy.”

“How am *I* the clumsy one here?” You sighed. “You know what, let’s go already. Forget about the tie, if we don’t hurry we won’t make it in time.”

You tried to open the door.

*Clatter clatter clatter*

“Kaito why isn’t it opening?”

“What?” He tried it for himself. “Oh crap, you’re right.”

“Now what? What should we do?”

“I dunno. I’ve never been trapped in a closet before.”

“Should we call 911?”

“Nah, it’s faster if we break the door.”

“B-break? Kaito wait-” He didn’t give you enough time to finish, slamming his body against the door as hard as he could.

A loud ‘bam’ was heard but the door was still intact.

“Call 911.” He turned to you, rubbing the side of his body in pain.

(...)

“There’s at least four shirts, three jackets, two pairs of pants and five pairs of shoes here...”

“Why are you counting my stuff s/o?”

“I’m so bored I’ll start going through your underwear cabinet if we don’t get out of here soon.”

He laughed. “What if we played a game?”

“Seems not boring. Sure.”

“Let’s tell each other something we’ve never told anyone!”

“Mmh ok.”

“I start!” He furrowed his brows and rubbed his chin for a bit then turned to you and said: “I just remembered something! Once Shuichi was at Kaede’s and he called me in panic because there wasn’t any toilet paper in the bathroom and I had to drive there and throw a roll of toilet paper through the window.”

He laughed again, remembering the look on the poor detective’s face.

“Oh man...” He wiped off a tear that had formed on the corner of his eye with his thumb. “I’ll have to apologize to Shuichi later, I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Poor guy...”

“Yeah, that wasn’t one of his best moments. But he’s pretty great!” He turned in your direction again. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“What is something you haven’t told anyone?”

“Something I haven’t told anyone... Let’s see...” You thought about it for a while. “I’m sorry but I can’t seem to remember anything.”

“C’mon s/o! I told you one thing didn’t I? Just say the first thing that comes to mind.”

“W-well, I have uh.. I have a crush on this person and I’ve never told anyone...”

His expression went from amused to sad. You could practically hear the sound of his heart breaking.

“Oh, that’s uh- That’s great! Lucky guy...”

“Thanks. He has beautiful purple eyes and a smile that could light up a room. We first met at school. Any ideas of who it might be?”

Your cheeks were becoming progressively more red but Kaito didn’t seem to notice.

You could tell he was thinking about all the people who fit your description, a melancholic look stamped on his face.

“No idea...” He looked away.

“Well, I’ll continue then. He’s funny and kind and he’s very handsome, so much that my heart skips a beat every time I see him.” You paused. “His name starts with a K. He’s tall and he loves to talk about space and he takes me stargazing all the time! He’s been my friend for a long time... I wish I knew what he thinks of me. But he’s a clueless dummy who won’t even realize it if I don’t say it directly.”

“You’re talking about-!?”

“Yup, that’s right.” You smiled.

Kaito threw his arms around you and almost crushed you in a bear hug. “Why didn’t you say so sooner!??”

“I thought it was pretty obvious.” You returned the hug.

“Clearly it wasn’t!!” He hugged you even tighter.

“K-Kaito... I need.. air..!”

“Oh sorry!” He freed you from his hold. “I’m just so happy!”

“Does that mean you like me back?”

“Well duh.” He chuckled. “You almost gave me a heart attack though.”

“I’m really, really happy right now but... Shouldn’t the police have arrived yet?”

“Oh shoot, my aunt is definitely going to get mad at me. I’ll never hear the end of this.”

“If you want, I can come with you when you explain it to her and hopefully she’ll understand.”

“Thanks s/o, you’re the best!” He smiled.

[fresh-outta-jams]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered - Part 9

Namjoon x Reader Author: Admin Mo Summary: You’re in college when your soulmate tattoo arrives, an address. Sending a letter couldn’t hurt, right? Note: Super sorry it’s been so long since my last update. Morgan and Morgan and I just got settled back into school with our new classes and everything, so I should have more time now that I have everything figured out. Warnings: Some swearing, soulmate fluff Word Count: 1.8k

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, Epilogue

Your new film classes were kicking your ass. Most of them were three hours long, so one of your greatest challenges in them was not falling asleep at eight in the morning or late at night. Your...distractions the previous semester had prevented you from signing up for your classes on time and therefore, you had the worst schedule on the face of the planet. You woke up too early, got home too late, and barely had time for naps in the middle. However, you did have a window for talking to Namjoon, which was about all you could ask for.

Somehow, it seemed like he got hotter every single day. You more than dreamed about him now; his face floated around your thoughts during your classes, his voice filtered through your earbuds as you walked around the snowy campus. It definitely soothed your pain at least a little bit, that and getting to see your face every time you unlocked your phone or got a call from him. The way his eyes crinkled when he smiled breathed the life back into the very drained half of your shared soul.

“Baby.” Namjoon waved his hand to snag your attention. Your mind had been wandering again. “You okay? You seem sort of distracted today.”

“I’m fine, Joon. Exhausted, but fine. What were you saying?”

“I asked you how our Sims are doing.”

You burst out laughing. When you had talked to him a few weeks prior, you’d made the mistake of mentioning the Sims game you’d been plugging away at, creating a perfect little life with your soulmate. Luckily for you, there were several talented Simmers who had uploaded their own Namjoons to the Gallery, so you could just download one that looked pretty close to the real thing. (Even closer with a dimple mod.)

“Joon is a scientist now.”

“A scientist? I thought he was an actor.”

“Well, he was, but I want to try to contact the aliens.”

“Ah. Understood. How are our kids?”

“They’re doing great. Added some new rooms on the house, got them a bigger TV, and I’m thinking about putting in a pool, but considering that they’re vampires, maybe that’s not the best idea…”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head at the absurdity of the little world you had crafted. “Yeah, maybe not, then.”

“Oh!” You blurted, sitting up straighter as you remembered what had been on your mind. “I have a bone to pick with you.”

Immediately, his eyes widened and his face reddened. Whatever this was, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be good. But then again, he couldn’t remember doing anything that would upset you. “U-um, jagi-”

“Uh-uh, don’t you ‘um, jagi’ me. You have no right. You have NO RIGHT...to go around looking this fine, what the hell, Namjoon. Your hair? So fine. Your face? SO FINE. How am I supposed to keep the girls off of you at this rate?”

“Jeez, you scared me. I thought something was wrong.”

“Also, don’t think I don’t see you lurking on my Twitter, you creep.” You laughed, causing his face to flush an even deeper red. “I have like twenty followers total, so someone with the username ‘rm_fan_94’ is going to raise some eyebrows.”

“Is it my fault you ReTweet all of the BTS Tweets gushing about how handsome you think I am? Sometimes a guy needs a little confidence boost from his beautiful girlfriend.”

That was new. You couldn’t remember him ever using THAT word before…

“Did I say something wrong?”

“N-no, you just, uh, caught me off-guard is all.” You coughed, cheeks burning probably the brightest red they’d ever glowed before. “Can I get that one more time?”

“What, ‘girlfriend’?” Namjoon smirked softly, his dimples prominent. “Well, that is what you are, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” You exhaled a sigh, something warm settling over your heart. “God, I really am, aren’t I?

“Shit, I never asked, did I? That’s a thing in the states, right? I’m supposed to ask you to be my girlfriend?”

“Well, I mean sometimes that’s how it goes, but not always.”

“(Y/N),” he suddenly got very mock-serious, “will you be my girlfriend?”

“Let me think about it.” You laughed. He pretended to wait with bated breath as you ‘thought about’ your answer to his very important world-changing question. “Yeah, I think I will.”

“Awesome.” He smiled. Namjoon was about to say something else before he was interrupted by someone walking into his and Tae’s room.

“Namjoon-ah, breakfast.” You recognized Hoseok’s voice as he entered, his face lighting up when he caught sight of what their fearless leader was doing. “(Y/N)!!”

“Hi Hobi!” You waved excitedly, hyped to finally meet him after watching him in videos for so long. “Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too!”

“I’ll be out in a sec, alright?” Namjoon told him in Korean. Hoseok nodded and then waved one last time before leaving the way he came. He looked back at you and sighed, torn. Obviously, they were all really busy working on their next comeback, even though they were still coming back down to earth after the Christmas/New Year’s Eve rush. You knew time was tight, but you always ached when it was time to say goodbye. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, baby. I love you.”

“I love you too.” You blew him a kiss, and then he was gone, leaving you waiting for the next time you would get to see his beautiful face.

***

“Dear Namjoon,

I read your book. Cover to cover. Well, I guess because it was in digital format, from the top of the Doc to the bottom of it. And let me just say I am blown away. I’ve known you’re a good writer. You write the best letters ever, and also you literally write lyrics for a living, so obviously you’re good, but this was so much different than any of your songs in the best possible way. There’s so much character, so many heartfelt moments, but it’s also funny and lighthearted and then it tugs at your heartstrings. I ended up crying three times while I read it.

That said, there were a few phrasing things I noticed, and a few typos, but I think you’re way more fluent than you realize. I usually end up with waaaaay more mistakes in my NaNo books than you have in yours. I marked the ones I caught in pink and left some comments.

These new classes are killing me. My film analysis is boring and we have a pretty heavy workload. Not to mention it’s like three hours long. Draining isn’t the word. However, it’s not all bad. I still go to the K-Pop club and learn new things about you and the guys from all of my K-Pop-loving friends. One of them got me a Koya sleep mask for Christmas! They all know I’m super whipped for you (but they don’t know why, no worries!).

Did I tell you I have Moonchild set to my wake up alarm? Ironic, I know, but it’s my favorite song on Mono. You probably know that. I probably told you that. I don’t remember. I’ve kind of had a lot on my mind recently. I’m seriously counting down the days to spring break. My brain hurts so much, but hearing your voice and talking to you and looking at your face makes it a little bit better.

I love you so much,

-(Y/N)”

*** Namjoon had a plan. Granted, it wasn’t a very solid plan; he didn’t have all of the details worked out, nor anything scheduled, nor had he even asked permission yet. But, it was a plan no less.

Over the past few weeks, in your ongoing letter correspondence back and forth to each other, Namjoon had been collecting details, thinking through logistics, and going around to the camera crew and asking them some questions figuring that they of all people would have the answers to them. And for the most part, they did, and they were all very friendly and nice to talk to. Based on the conversations he’d had with them, it seemed like Part 1 of his plan would work out just fine. That left him to figure out parts 2 and 3.

Part 2, he figured, would be the second-easiest thing to accomplish. Actually, maybe the easiest, considering that Part 1 had required some digging and research. Whereas with Part 2, it was only the idea of it that was scaring him. In theory, actually pulling through with it would be easy.

So, once he had scraped together as much courage as he could manage, he went to the office of none other than Hitman Bang and knocked on the door.

***

“Dear (Y/N),

I’m sorry to hear your classes are so rough. I wish I could make it better. Thinking about you in pain pulls at my heartstrings in more ways than one. I really, really wish I could be there to comfort you somehow, but even then, I don’t think I would know how to fix the problem aside from supporting you and encouraging you to keep going because you’re almost there. Just a little longer and it’ll all be worth it.

As for my book...I’m super, super glad you liked it. Part of me was really afraid it maybe wasn’t as good as I hoped it was. We all have a tendency to look down on our own work, I guess, and sometimes we’re blind to our own mistakes. Thank you for helping out with mine, though. It means so, so much to me that you took the time out of your busy schedule to look over it and give me feedback. I’m also very sorry I made you cry. Thinking about that hurts me inside too.

I’m glad you’re having fun in your K-Pop club and making new friends and learning things! Just know that if you ever want to know ANYTHING, I would be more than happy to tell you anything you want to know. Also, I’m really sorry you have to keep me a secret, at least for know. Just know it won’t be a secret forever. Someday, you won’t have to hide who I am. I just hope that ‘someday’ comes sooner than it seems to be coming.

You definitely did not tell me Moonchild is your wake up alarm. God, you don’t know how happy that makes me. I’m glad you like it so much. Again, I’m so sorry this semester has been rough on you so far. And I’m sorry I couldn’t kiss you on New Year’s Eve. And I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you on Christmas morning. I’m sorry for a lot of things. I’m sorry we’re so far away from each other. I’m sorry it’s taking me so long to get to you. I promise I will soon, though. As soon as I possibly can. Every minute I’m without you burns, and I know you feel it too.

I love you to the moon and back,

-Namjoon”

Tagged:  @iie-wakarimasen, @ffantasylandd, @jooniefluff, @chimchimsauce, @mrs-saeyoung-choi, @theprinceoftheundead, @angyexoxo, @copenhagenspirit, @lovelylittlekittn, @lilgaga98, @iminlovewjjk, @feed-my-geek-soul, @loveandwitch, @recoveringflowerchild, @demonic-meatball, @maddieisaacs, @scissorsandtonfas, @carirosesg, @backtonormalthings, @local-mochi, @faliwi, @spoopyela, @nanie5, @ingenu--e, @undiscovered1personality, @andalos, @calspixie, @filtermono, @huhuehuey, @mikey-girl12, @lilliaflurr, @hypophrenium, @sitkafay, @spiicyari, @andeerwilson, @btswerewolfaus, @oyasumi7

[commenter2]

Ratchet: Deadlocked Reimagining

Before I start, this will be the last of my R&C reimagined series for now as I don’t see games like Size Matters or Secret Agent Clank being reimagined in the future and the other games are too good to be reimagined at the moment. Maybe one day Ill do another but right now I think Ill focus on other things, like maybe a potential plot for a Jak 4 game :)

I can see some big changes for this game as not only did people and fans dislike the original Deadlocked (no offense to people who like it) but the people at Insomniac Games also say it wasn’t that great. My first big change is changing the title to Ratchet & Clank: Deadlocked as I see Clank having a bigger role in the reimagining compared to what he did in the original. An alternate title for the game could be R&C: fighting through the Dreadzone, a play on riding through the danger zone

Some obvious changes is to have more weapons as though interesting the lack of weapons made the game very boring even with the mods, and of course have the weapons go up to V5 where they change into a stronger version instead of just going up to V99 as well as get rid of mods. I’d be ok if they uses weapons from companies like Gadgetron or Grummelnet in order to fix this, hopefully just not weapons that have warned out there welcome like Mr. Zurkon or the Warmonger.

I also see the mechanics for the Ratchet levels being much different as instead of just the one small mission after another then going back to a mission selection screen from the original Deadlocked, I see them being like regular R&C levels with one long mission with multiple objectives, some planets could maybe be like the big open areas from A Crack In Time. Speaking of levels, what if there were some where Ratchet, Merc, and Green have to work with other characters, for example they work with Hydro Girl on a water planet, interestingly there was going to be a level where Ratchet saves her but it was cut out so it be cool to see it finally happen. Other ideas for this could be a level with Brax as apparently in his bio he was once forced to fight in Dreadzone in the reimagined universe so it be a good excuse to give him some character development, or one with a new villain character who wants redemption for his past deeds.

Speaking of which, Clank has a bigger role in the game as instead of being Ratchet’s info guy he would be doing his own thing in the form of Clank levels, which I talk about later in this post. However though missing I still think Ratchet should have a heli and hydro upgrades in his suit, that way he can still do things he could normally do with Clank.

Now for the plot of the reimagining.

The game starts with Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark helping Big Al out with a project till Clank leaves to retrieve something, but while out of the room Clank hears the 3 heroes scream and run to see them gone. Ratchet and the others end up in a room with other people, some they recognize as heroes and wanted villains but before they can figure it out, a screen is turned on and they see a video of Gleeman Vox. Gleeman Vox introduces himself as a famous yet well hidden black market dealer and the owner and creator of the dark tv show Dreadzone, a show where worthy fighters whether heroes or villains across the galaxy fight in challenges for the amusement of viewers across the universe.

He tells everyone that they must perform on his show or face being killed by the self destruct feature in there suits and if they do well they could be as popular as Ace Hardlight, a former hero turned criminal after an unknown tragic accident and after the video ends, Ratchet and the others are then teleports the players to there bases. Vox originally wanted Clank on the show with Ratchet but the soldiers accidently took Al, who will becomes his tech guy while Qwark becomes his info guy, but Vox fixes this by giving Ratchet two robot assistants named Merc and Green, who in the reimagined could be two different kinds of robots with more personality, and again a heli and hydro upgrades to his suit.

The plot is pretty similar to the original as Ratchet is forced to perform various challenges on multiple planets and the Dreadzone Station, however maybe in this version Ratchet after a planet or two get the idea that if he is ranked high on the show he will get more screen time which could get attention of someone outside the show like Clank or the Galactic Rangers. The game isn’t all just about Ratchet as you do play as Clank from time to time who after finding Ratchet and Qwark missing, follows a clue that leads him to go to various Vox companies where he sneaks and to try and find Ratchet. Maybe Ratchet’s plan does work as it gets Clank’s attention and causes him to focus more on Vox’s weapon based businesses and then tries to get to the Galactic Rangers to help by finding evidence.

Maybe there could be something different though to make his sections a bit more interesting, like maybe he could use a weapon or gadget Ratchet or Al dropped in order to fight off enemies or get into secure locations. Again If not killed off Brax could also partake in the Clank plot using his knowledge of stuff Vox related to help Clank find Ratchet. If not popular enough to be with Ratchet, Big Al could also fill this role if fans want to see more of him.

After many planets and plot points like Vox seeing worth of Ratchet, Ace wounding Al and finding out what happened to Ace that made him evil, Clank finally gets in contact with Ratchet and says that he and the Galactic Rangers are going to save him and the other people but in order to do that Ratchet must distract Vox long enough in order to do so. Ratchet does this by challenging Ace in a fight and wins, though maybe this time they clearly show if Ace dies or not. Vox then ask Ratchet to be new mascot of Dreadzone but of course Ratchet says no even with Vox saying he would make him suffer it he denies but remembering what Clank says, Ratchet tricks Vox into making him do very dangerous challenges like challenges on the Ghost Station, though maybe without the ghost or the hovership section (I don’t know that never seemed that great of a way to end a game) and maybe another new challenge where Ratchet has to fight heroes and villains he’s teamed up with in the game.

Either way Ratchet’s plan works as Clank and the Galactic Rangers come and start taking out Vox’s stations and troops. Vox gets so mad he, using a remote, decides to blowup his station killing everyone, Ratchet of course is told that there is a way to stop this and chases after Vox who is going to an escape ship, dealing with enemies as the countdown does what it does. Ratchet destroys his ship and an angry Vox in a mech suit starts fighting Ratchet starting the last boss fight. Speaking of the boss fight, the original is considered bad by how easy it is to defeat Vox so some ideas I have to fix this are to give him more health or let there be moments in the fight where he retreats and lets minor enemies fight for him. Ratchet beats him but realizes he can’t stop the countdown and we get a moment where he accepts his fate and gives a speech saying his farewells to people ignoring Clank who keeps trying to tell him something, which is that he can stop the countdown which he does with ease, embarrassing Ratchet a bit.

We then get a wrap up of Vox and other villains from the show (Ace included if he survives) going to jail, maybe followed by a joke of how Vox is the first big villain Ratchet and Clank have brought in alive, and we see the main characters hanging out with the new heroes and redeemed villain, maybe ending on a funny quote by Qwark. Then we get a end credit cutscene of the gang about to blow up the Dreadzone Station while at the same time Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence see the station and are glad that they’ll get off the asteroid soon only to see it destroyed, making Nefarious scream out of anger, maybe someone ask if they hear a scream only to say no, making Nefarious scream even funnier since it plays on the iconic like “in space no one can hear you scream”.

Would you want a Deadlocked Reimagined game ? What other ideas would you like to see or not see in a Deadlocked reimagining ?

[good-rwbyaus]

a good!adam au.

| Winter Wilt - working AU name | mod lilac |

| Ghira Belladonna steps down from the throne of the White Fang, and with his departure, the Bengal Tiger rises. The reborn White Fang begins its violent debut through assassinating one of its greatest foes. And through a twist of fate, a young man - before passion became spite and love to obsession - is granted a chance to realize who he wants to be. |

| Prologue: The Night Before |

| A/N: Also featuring small!savage!Blake. | 

____________________________________________________

The Bengal Faunus sat languidly on the White Fang’s throne, glaring at the sole person in the chamber with her - which happened to be him, Adam Taurus. He knew why he was in here, kneeling - when Ghira didn’t force others to do that in his presence.

She wanted to consolidate her power - to root out all her dissenters and show who’s boss. And the best way of doing that is to make the person who had popularity close to hers completely subservient to her rule. 

Despite knowing her game, he couldn’t help but see red with her next words.

“No. You will accompany Squad 2 in the assassination of the Schnee Heires-,” Sienna stated, her words clearly brooking no room for discussion. Her eyes dared the young Faunus before him to say otherwise.

And he - Adam Taurus - took the bait. She knew he didn’t want the participation prize. He wanted the trophy. He wanted Jacques Schnee’s head! The scar over his blind left eye - the suffering he and his dead mother had gone through - demanded nothing less. 

Ignoring the dangerous glint in Sienna’s eyes, he shot up to his feet and locked gazes with her. 

“Why! You told me before I would accompany Squad 1! You told me before I could kill Jacq-”

Crack!

He was seeing stars. Blood dripped from his nose. Hand belatedly reaching for his aching cheekbone, he lifted his head up only for a strong hand to slam it right into the dirt.

A huge pressure began grinding his nose into the ground. 

“Did you think that was a request?” Sienna spoke quietly with her hand on the back of his head - he hadn’t even seen her move - “That was an order.” 

“…You need to learn your place,” the woman whispered in his ear, “Just because you have my favor does not mean I can’t take it away.” 

With every word, she pressed harder and harder. 

“Do not think for a moment I am weak and pathetic as Belladonna.,” she continued on, “I will not tolerate insubordination.”

Pulling him up by his hair, Sienna met his eyes again,. “Do we understand each other?”

He wanted to spit in her face. He wanted to yell and scream at her. But in the end, self-preservation won out.

“C-Crystal.”

—————————–

‘Felt like she smacked out a tooth or something,’ Adam grumbled as blood and water swirled down the sink. His teeth and hurt pride gritted at the memory before he forced himself to ignore it. There was nothing he could do about it now; the High Leader could trample upon him because he was weak.

Only with strength can one fight back. Only with strength can one change the world. This incident was merely a reminder on what happens to people when their strength is lacking.

He closed his eyes and sighed, turning off the faucet with a squeak. His gaze lifted up towards the mirror.  

Yup. Looks like that ugly mug of his was as good as it was going to get. His fingers traced the brand of his face, the phantom pain of metal against his eye burning once more. A sharp hiss left his lips.

It’s been nearly a decade since he lost his mother and received this scar - nearly a decade since he found his Semblance and struck down his mother’s killer. That’d make him…he’s sixteen now; the age where human kids would choose their future path. 

He never thought he’d live this long.  

Knock. Knock. Knock.

His head turned to the apartment door, a familiar pattern of knocks striking against it. The fact his guest immediately barged in afterwards drew out a weary sigh on his part.

“Adam! Why didn’t you say you were going out on a mission again?” the cat Faunus yelled crankily, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. I had to hear it from the grapev-” 

“You know… Most people wait for a response after they knock,” he replied dryly as he pushed the bathroom door open. 

“I’m your student,” Blake complained, “That gives me like some sort of pri-veil-edges-”

“Privileges,” he deadpanned at the black-haired twelve-year old that hopped onto his crappy couch like she owned it.   

“- to invade your privacy time to time,” she continued on with a cheeky grin,. “Besides, if I hadn’t come, I bet you’d be brooding inside your bathroom all evening.”

“Why do you insist I’m brooding all the time?” Adam couldn’t help but frown before placing a hand across his chest, “I could just be getting ready for a big night in the town. You know? A little fun before the big mission.”

Ah crap. Blake’s giving him that look. 

Guess it’s time to get the burn cream ready.

“Please, Adam. I could name the color and style of the shirt and pants you’re gonna wear a month from now,” she gave him the once-over before adding, “Your coat? Haven’t seen you wear anything different in the four years I’ve known you.”

That wasn’t too bad.

“And as for your face, we both know that’s a lost cause,” Blake continued.

…There it was.

“Admit it. You were brooding,” she finished smugly.

His face contorted for a second before schooling itself into a cold expression. His hand lingered over the scar on his face.

A chilly silence came between the two of them.

As seconds ticked away, the girl’s cocky expression slowly shifted into regret and shame. Her eyes darted guiltly to the floor.

“…A-Adam..” she said, her feline ears lowering, “I-I’m sorry. I went too f-”

“Pfft…” 

Blake looked up in surprise.

Peeking at his student’s face, he couldn’t hold his stern expression anymore, so he didn’t.

“Hahaha!” 

The cat Faunus stared disbelievingly for a moment before immediately shooting up to her feet, hackles raised.

“I can’t believe you!” she said as she ran up to him, knocking her small fists repeatedly against his chest, “I honestly thought you were mad!”

“Blake. I’ve known you for four - four long horrible years,” he said with a hint of a chuckle, his fingers quickly pinching and pulling repeatedly at her cheeks. The girl hissed and swatted his hands away from her face. “If my skin were any less thick, I’m pretty sure I would’ve died from anger by now.” 

“I’m not that bad,” she denied, arms crossed. 

“You’re not,” he replied.

She nodded her head.

“You’re worse,” he smirked.

“ADAM!”

—-

Several minutes of chasing led to his apartment becoming messier than before. Blake grumpily sat on his couch, pretending to ignore him in favor of the book in her hands. 

“Look, Blake. I’m sorry, alright,” he placated with a hint of smile on his face, “You’re not bad at all.”

She continued to ignore him.

“Blake, you’re holding the book upside-down.” She wasn’t, but that was the point.

The twitch of her hand betrayed the attention she put on him, but the expected annoyance or irritation at being tricked didn’t come. Instead, her gaze left the book and steadily locked onto him.

“…There’s rumors that the White Fang’s going to do something to the S.D.C. Is that true?” 

What stupid idiot leaked that out? 

“…I can’t say,” he sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, “You shouldn’t repeat that to anyone.” 

“I know that. I’m not a kid,” she grumbled, “I’m just worried about you. They said there’s going to be killing involved.” Her eyes seem to sheen with moisture, almost accusing him with their gaze.

“Blake…” he paused, “I kn- I know you don’t like it. I know you want to solve things peacefully with the humans, but there are some people that absolutely refuse to change their ways - and these people are the ones that are hurting us the most. And they need to di-” 

“The Fang isn’t like that; shouldn’t be like that.”

“It shouldn’t. But that is life for the Faunus,” Adam sat next to his protege, “I wish we had the luxury to change our oppressors by showing that the Faunus aren’t bad people…but it may take months or even years for that to bear fruit - and during that time, our kind is suffering. We just can’t afford that time.”

Blake bit her lip beginning to tear up, gaze defiant in the face of grim reality.  

He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“We won’t kill unless we have to,” he stated, “I’ll make sure of it. I mean, out of all of the White Fang, don’t I have the biggest bone to pick with the S.D.C?” He rubbed his chin with his index finger and thumb, “I mean, they ruined such a beautiful face. A crime to all of Remnant.” 

That earned him a shove into his side.

“You’re awful,” Blake laughed, wiping her tears away. 

As for him, he was glad to get away from a heavy subject, though illiciting the rare laugh from the girl was its own reward.. 

“What are you reading anyway?” He asked, nudging his head towards her book.

Blake’s eyes lit up like they did whenever she found a nice piece of literature.

“It’s- Beauty and the Beast. It’s a classic,” she said before excitedly adding, “I could read it to you if you want.” 

“Maybe another time. Sorry, Blake.” He awkwardly ran a hand through his hair, “I have to pack up. I’m leaving in two hours.”

“How much of that time did you waste brooding?” she stuck her tongue out as she placed the book back into her satchel. “Finnneeee, I know when I’m not wanted.”

Hopping up to her feet, she made her way to the door before turning her head towards him, “…Make sure to stay safe.”

“Yeah, I will. And Blake?”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks.” For showing up. For being here. 

A smile slipped onto his closest friend’s - perhaps his only friend - lips. “No problem.”  She disappeared quietly into the night, door closing behind her.

He closed his eyes quietly, trying to etch this small encounter into his memory. When he opened them again, they were filled with determination.

It’s time to make history - to cut off the head of the beast known as the Schnee Dust Company. 

For Faunus everywhere. 

For himself. 

For Blake.

[whereisvanderwood]

Interleave

At last, this is my full contribution for @saeranzine I had the honor in taking part in this year. The project had equal parts challenges and achievements, and the fun shared with every other writer, artist and mod during this time is an experience I’ll never forget as my first zine being part of. Thank you everyone who supported us!

Please enjoy the piece :) Happy holidays, everyone!

☆☆☆☆☆

You’d gotten the good ending, the normal one, too. All that was left was to break his heart five times for that one-hundred percent completion of his love story. It was a bittersweet feeling upon realizing that your journey was on the home-stretch. The more you thought about it, however, you couldn’t bring yourself to break his heart like that after all the brokenness he’d been subjected to before. Especially since you knew what the bad endings for the RFA members were -- Ray’s could only be tenfold more devastating. You wouldn’t do it. You couldn’t do it.

The familiar ping of the messenger popped your bubble of thought and enticed you to pick up your phone as it sat on the marble-finish coffee table. It was the 10:23am chatroom of Day Six. You knew what it meant for you if you opened it -- the kinds of answers you would have to choose to get a new outcome. You refused to play along, tapping onto Ray’s contact to give him a call instead.

One ring… Two rings… Three rings… No answer.

You rose from the table and carried yourself to the lancet windows. The morning was young and the garden flickered with quartz-like raindrops under the dawning of the day’s first light. You knew he wouldn’t pick up at this time on the sixth day, but your thumb wouldn’t desist in tapping his name again and again as though you were in a stupor.

A shrill of static noise ripped through the air, causing you to block your ears and drop your phone. As you frantically inspected the device for cracks, you noticed the screen displaying that you were in a phone call. You held the phone to your ear and timidly spoke.

“Ray...?”

“MC! Did something happen? I got worried something happened to you.”

“Oh, uh… no, I’m okay. Were you, um, working?”

“Saviour said I can’t speak with you until I finish improvements. I’m sorry I didn’t pick up the first time… Are you mad?”

“N-No, of course not! I just… I was wondering if you wanted to maybe… go out?”

“Go out? As in... leave?”

“Yeah! I mean, not like that, but with you!”

“I… I can’t, MC. Saviour would be upset if I did. There’s so much to be done.”

“We’ll come back by the end of the day -- just for a few hours. It’ll be good for you, too!”

He exhaled, the sound of his breath dragging past his lips. “MC, you don’t have to do this for me. I don’t deserve it. I’m weak, and an airhead--”

“You’re not to me. I want to spend time with you.”

“But what if something bad happens to you because of me? I… I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.”

“Ray, I swear nothing will happen to you, or me. I just want to… see you smile.”

He sighed a second time. “Meet me in the garden. Hide next to the geraniums where security won’t see you. I’ll be there in a few minutes... Please, don’t go anywhere.”

Once the call ended, you sat on the bed with a hand on your chest, your heart pounding with adrenaline every passing second. He’d answered the call when you could’ve sworn he wasn’t meant to, and that wasn’t an ordinary conversation. It was too ordinary to be ‘normal’ by the route’s standards.

You snuck out from your suite to meet him, going with the flow of the unexpected turn.

…

You gazed silently outside the moving car’s window as distance grew between you and Mint Eye. Maple leaves dusted the asphalt with their fiery hues of red and orange, adding colour to the seemingly grey road. Nothing could beat the beauty of mother nature and her sky-scraping pine trees high up in the mountains.

“We’re almost there…” Ray spoke quietly as he gripped the steering wheel.

“Thank you for lending me a Believer’s uniform.”

“I didn’t want you to get cold.. A-and I had to make sure we wouldn’t be seen leaving. I want to make sure you’re safe.”

“I know… I think it’s really brave of you to come out with me like this.”

It wasn’t long before the familiar bustling of people came into view around the last corner.  Ray parked the car a good distance away to avoid being spotted by the security cameras. It seemed much more vast than you’d last remembered. For a place that you could only enjoy in the prologue for a scarce moment, you wished you were granted more time for exploration.

Together, you walked along the brick road of the metropolis, the splashes of colours from cafes and clothing boutiques catching your eye wherever you looked. Finally free from your beautified prison after a number of repeated weeks, you couldn’t help but feel giddy.

Before long, you found yourself standing in front of the same cafe you were first picked up from. You felt your stomach grumble.

“I heard they have really good ice-cream here… Should we get some?”

“I-If you’d like,” Ray smiled.

Many people had queued in line to enjoy the mouth-watering delight on the cloudless morning. How long had it been since he’d taken gladness from this secret pleasure of his? It must’ve been an awful number of months.

“My treat,” you insisted as you pulled out a coin purse from the cloak’s pocket.

“Oh no, MC, I really don’t think--”

“You deserve it, Ray. I won’t let you think otherwise.” Without another word, you approached the counter, Ray following you closely behind.

With icy scoops of the sweet dessert in hand, you both ambled down the promenade and admired the sights of the gaily store fronts. Distant echoes of buskers danced to your ears and you found yourself swaying with the melodies in your steps. A few times you looked over to Ray, who looked like a kid in a candy store with his obvious intrigue.

Scattered flower-beds along the stone pavement caught his attention with their vibrant petals and he felt tantalized enough to brush his finger along the the petals of a white daisy. Mint Eye’s garden succeeded in elegance ten-fold when compared to this place, and yet they seemed much prettier here.

His eyes sparkled with wonder and curiosity the further you strolled, but he only really glowed when beyond all of the outlets was a wide open field, devoid of any other soul. It was just you and him -- the perfect scenario.

Florae of many kinds scattered across the green blades of grass like splashes of paint on a canvas. Entranced by their beauty, you took him by the hand and led him through the field, finding a perfect patch to sit in and bathe in sunlight surrounded by colours of grace. You felt content, the back-burner-nagging of your conscience telling you “you can’t do this” finally silenced. It didn’t matter what was to become of this -- what truly mattered to you was that you were able to do this for Ray outside of the game’s limitations.

After all, you’d probably never get to do this again.

“Hey…” you mumbled, “have you ever made a flower crown?”

“A crown? From flowers? I don’t think I have.”

You sprang at the opportunity as you swiftly picked as many flowers around you as you could. “I’ll show you! They’re really easy, just watch what I do.”

He observed from over your shoulder as you intertwined the delicate stems of each flower into one another. There was a moment of peaceful silence as you both created your flower circlets, until he broke the quiet.

“MC… why did you want to do this for me?”

“Do what?”

“Take me out. Eating ice-cream with me, making crowns from flowers, just doing nice things for me. I haven’t done anything that deserves your praise.”

“Not everything has to be a prize, Ray. Most things should be done for someone out of love, not as a reward for good behaviour.” You saw his weaving slow, knowing your words were reaching him. “You know what I’m talking about… right?”

“If it wasn’t for Saviour, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”

You paused. “I’m sorry if I shouldn’t be saying this, but… is who you are right now really who you want to be?”

He turned his head and gazed deeply into your eyes. The wind swayed your hair across your face, making you appear even more so as an angel sent for him with your words of wisdom and love. His face showed an expression that couldn’t be put so easily into words. You reciprocated as you felt the same way, but made yourself busy again.

“Here, this is for you,” you smiled as you gently placed your finished work onto his head. It was a treasure shaped from orchids and gypsophila, together meaning ‘beauty, strength and undying love’.

Tenderly, he placed his own crown of ‘lily of the valley’ on your head, tucking a stray piece of hair behind your ear. “I shouldn’t be in love with you,” he muttered closely to your ear.

Every hair on your limbs were raised with anticipation as you felt his breath on your neck. He was so close, right there in front of you, alas he felt so far away no matter what you could say. The sweet, earthy perfume of the flowers surrounding you both filled your nostrils, bringing a new calmness to ease both your nerves.

His face hadn’t retreated from yours yet, and your heart was beating harder the more he lingered. Was this true affection? Or had the game somehow reprogrammed his character to act this way to compensate for the new turn of events? You eyed the shrinking space between your lips.

“Is this real?” the whispered words escaped your mouth.

At last, the gap was closed with a gentle kiss. His lips were chapped, but you didn’t mind. His cold hand found the side of your neck, soon cupping your cheek as you both grew passionate. All the uncertainty melted away with intimacy -- this was the realest thing you’d experienced with him, with any of them, and you didn’t want the moment to end.

…

Tip-toeing through the lantern-lit hallways, Ray led the way as he guided you back to your room while attempting to remain unseen. Once the door to your room was finally reached, he hurried you inside when he could hear footsteps approaching from a distance.

“You should go before someone sees you,” you urged him.

“I will… I’ll see you again soon, my Princess.” He smiled before swiftly planting one last kiss on your forehead, then closing the door.

You sighed in bliss, letting yourself twirl a few times before flopping onto your soft mattress. You knew that nothing could top what you had managed to do for Ray today, and the reward of euphoria from both parties was more than enough to satiate your desire to be with him. Having lost track of the time of day, you checked your phone for the first time in a number of hours.

Nothing could’ve made you sick to the stomach faster than what your screen displayed — a seemingly endless list of notifications full of missed texts, calls and chatrooms from the RFA. You quickly opened the app and saw the day had already reached the route’s first bridge. You didn’t need a mirror to know that your face had drained its colour. You covered your mouth.

“Crap… the participation target...”

You tried to be hopeful that the previous day’s progress would be enough to get you over, but you doubted it. You wished you could’ve said goodbye to Ray properly if you’d known this was going to happen. The guilt you’d worked to avoid came rushing back. Your throat closed up and your hands became clammy with anxiety. There was nothing more you could do. The damage was done.

You looked away from the screen as you unlocked the story mode, waiting for what was about to happen. Normally, you would leave your room and meet Mint Eye’s leader outside your door; the plot progressing forward.

So when a Believer entered your room unannounced, demanding your audience with the Saviour, you knew it was over.

☆

[saccharinedanganimagines]

(I'm having chapter 4 thoughts again...) Could I request Gonta and Hoshi comforting their S/O who's crying cause one of her favorite characters died? Please and thank you!

I AM HERE FOR YOUWe can cry together over Chapter 4, Ultima (if i may call you that)

on another note why are almost all of gonta’s sprites him NOT being happyLEMME SEE HIM SMILE MORE P L E A S E

-Mod Gonta

Gonta and Ryoma comforting S/O (who is mourning the loss of a favorite character)

Gonta Gokuhara- He came home quite excited. Whilst he was out and about, he had managed to find many types of interesting bugs, and he was excited to show you.- “S/O?? Gonta’s home!”- No response, although upon walking further into the house, he did hear some noise coming from your room.- So, heading for your room, he knocked on the door, only to be greeted by a shaky sounding “come in..”- Concerned, he opened the door, looking inside only to find you facing him, teary-eyed and sniffling.- W O R R Y- “S-S/O?! What’s wrong??” Gonta takes off the bug cage, putting it down on a nearby desk and going over to you, “Is S/O hurt?? Scared?? D-Did Gonta do something and make S/O cry?? S-So sorry!”- Wiping your eyes, you had to reassure him that it wasn’t his fault, and that something just happened....in the game you were playing.- He was still worried, but also confused, so he asked what you meant.- When you explained that in the game, one of your favorites died, he gasped and showed sadness. He didn’t really play the game himself, but when he did, he noticed the love you held towards the character in question. It made him happy to see you were happy, so seeing you so sad over them made him sad, too.- “Gonta sorry...Know how much S/O liked them....is there anything Gonta can do to help S/O feel better?”- He’d do his best to make you feel better. He’d show you the bugs he found earlier and give you interesting facts about them to get your mind off of it. He’d even offer to take you outside for a nice walk, and if you accepted, the two of you would take a nice walk and observe a few more bugs if you found any. But if not, you’d both just admire the sight of nature together.- And once you returned home, if you were still sad, Gonta would try and cook a nice dinner for you (or with you, depending on how things go-), and maybe cuddle with you for a bit til you both fell asleep.

Ryoma Hoshi- Ryoma was just returning from a walk when he saw you coming from your room into the kitchen to get a drink.- So, he decides to go and greet you, but he doesn’t expect to see you crying and upset. Recovering from the momentary surprise, he’d straighten himself up and go to you, concerned.- “S/O, what happened..?” he’d simply ask. When you tell him you’d like to calm down a bit first, he nods, and you both sit at the table, him comfortingly rubbing your arm as you shakily took a drink.- After your slight sobs and shaky breaths subside more, he’d ask you again. If he or someone else did anything, he wants to know.- When you told him one of your favorite characters died in the video game you were playing at the moment, he didn’t really know how to react.- At least it wasn’t anything he or someone else did, he thinks.- “Sorry to hear that, S/O..” Ryoma never really got sad over that sorta stuff, but he knows how much some characters can mean to some people.- “I’m not the best at comfort, but if there’s anything I can do for you...just tell me,” he says, patting you on the back and rubbing circles on it gently.- He decides to try playing a different game to get your mind off of it. Something more light-hearted. Perhaps something silly like Tomodachi Life or calming like Animal Crossing, where no one really dies.- If that didn’t help much, he’d suggest maybe taking a break from the games and doing something more together.- If you really wanted, he’d let you cuddle him and hold him in your lap. Maybe while you watched a few bad sitcoms to get your mind off of it. He’d gently place a hand on your arms as they wrap around him, leaning into you as you enjoyed the feeling of him.- Even if he thinks he’s bad at comforting, he’s glad he’s still able to make you feel better.

[kaleidoscopeofrainbows]

One Foot out of the Closet, Part 26: Manga Sums up my Life

So besides playing 234352 different mods for Doki Doki Literature club, a friend of mine sent some positive wlw stuff that I’ve been reading and I’ve started watching The L Word on Netflix.  It’s like if I’m not in a wlw relationship, I submerge myself in as much fulfilling content as possible.  I started reading a Manga called Asagao to Kase-san and honestly it gave me feelings I hadn’t felt in a while.  There’s this deep emotional longing for something beautiful and pure like the relationship the manga depicts.  I really related to the chapter where (spoiler warning) Kase-san is transferring to a university in Tokyo and Yamada is contemplating staying locally.  It brought back a lot of feelings I had during my relationship but it’s like I’m inwardly both Kase and Yamada.  I was constantly depressed about the distance thing, the idea that I wouldn’t see my girlfriend at all.  But I was worried I wouldn’t stay faithful the way Yamada was worried Kase wouldn’t stay faithful after her transfer.  I know it’s better this way.  I’m already open to trying dating again.  I know it seems like I haven’t moved on since I keep talking about my ex and I still go through our texts but I know that by the time I transfer, I will be moved on 98%....because I don’t know if anyone ever gets over their first real relationship

Anyway, if you want to check out the Manga it’s here. 

I want to try again so much.  I know I can be a better girlfriend now that my emotions are more in check.  I just need to find someone who is strong enough to handle me if I relapse or knows how to turn me to someone I can.  I don’t think Airplane ever fully understood my mental illness.  I mean, everyone’s struggles are different...but she seemed to think that my issues were only as bad as hers were.  I mean, what I dealt with wasn’t nearly as bad as what she did.  Like, it was all just stress related to school, work, and my relationship coupled with the insults of one incredibly shitty person.  That’s all I dealt with.  I never dealt with my highschool shunning me because of my interest in women.  That’s just one of the many things she had to deal with.  But she just handled that so much better than I handled my shit.  My anxiety, again though, was probably causing her to relive some of her old anxiety.  Which is why I’m glad she broke up with me.

I’m glad she broke up with me because I didn’t have the strength to break up with her even though my interest had moved on from her.  I can’t stop thinking about other girls.  I couldn’t when I was dating her.  I kept thinking “Is this my one opportunity?  I don’t want this to be my only relationship.” I thought one relationship would satisfy me.  I used to say to myself, “Once I experience love a single time, I’ll be happy to just die at any time”   but I want to love so much more.  I wouldn’t mind if I spent my life drifting from partner to partner.  I wouldn’t mind settling down but I don’t know if I want a family.  I do but I don’t at the same time.  Providing for two is just plenty.  I’m going to be old by the time I’m in a financial situation that would allow for kids.

Part of me just wants a Kase-san.  I want to just have a girlfriend forever and never marry.  That’s very Steph of me.  I would be the Steph in a relationship.  I wouldn’t mind a wedding though if my matching Lena desired it.

I rushed my relationship.  I would talk about sex and weddings one day and beg her to tell me she hated me the next day.  I feel like I was fighting myself.  I never had interest in her.  I had interest in the fact that she wanted me.  I didn’t want to turn her down and we kept going and I thought I liked her but I just liked our relationship.  I’m in lesbians with being a lesbian.

Once I find confidence this will be so much easier.  I feel like the kid in the first episode of The L Word who got scared when a woman made an advance.  Just this constant game of tag.  I love her, I love her not.  I’m not questioning my sexuality.  I know now that I’m really really gay. I didn’t feel these aroused feelings for her

It just didn’t work.  It didn’t work and I didn’t cry when she left.  I was happy.

She’s just not the one.

But I’ll find the one someday

Or they will find me.

[marshmarrowsans]

arghng sorry for multiple asks I am addicted; can I request a short thing with ut!sans's future s/o or crush realizing sans loves her (show me the heart eyes) thanks you are both great people+

(Shhhh don’t be sorry we love your asks -Mod Kasha)Sans was drunk. Sans didn't usually getdrunk.  He was the responsible one.  The mom friend.  He was the one who sat there with a bottle ofketchup and a large basket of fries and watched you try (in vain) to out-drinkUndyne, the one who put his arm around you and helped you walk outsideafterwards, the eternal designated driver. But today, incredibly, possibly because it was just the twoof you out on a Friday night together and you planned on walking back to hisplace together for a sleepover, Sans was a little bit, convincingly, undeniablydrunk. Maybe you were a bit of a bad influence on him, because itall started when you offered him a sip of your drink, and you had a really damngood drink.  He ordered one forhimself.  He ordered another one for himself,then decided to try another, different drink on the menu that seemed similarbut a bit more fruity.  And he seemedlike he was having fun, so who were you to stop him?He still seemed like he was having fun, even now as you had decided to step inand prevent him from ordering any more drinks. And you know what?  You werehaving fun, too.  You weren't completelyhammered or anything, but you felt slightly, pleasantly hazy.  Just enough to lower your inhibitions alittle, but not enough to give you a hangover. "Alright.  Twotruths and a lie.  Your turn," youannounced, feeling the need to do something other than listen to him rattle offincreasingly unfunny and non-sensical puns.  It was a little game you hadn't playedtogether in awhile, because after passing the time with it occasionally in yourearly friendship to try and get to know each other better, it didn't take youlong to realize two things about Sans. One, he had an impressive poker face.  You wondered if you should be concerned thathe was such a good liar.  You guessed hislie a statistically insignificant portion of the time. And two, he was good at reading people.  Stupidly good at it.  He was a living lie detector, always callingyou out either with logic ("if you really used to have a fat cat namedBurger, then why have I never see him in the many cat pictures you've proudlyshown me?") or just by saying that he could see it in your expression. You wondered if either capability was still fullyfunctioning in his current condition. "hehehe.  ok, ok,ok.  let's see, um."  He rested his chin in his hand and gazed atyou, in an obvious and unsuccessful attempt to put on his usual pokerface.  "...  y'know, the longer we're friends, the harderit gets to trick ya'.  feels like youknow everything about me at this point." "Really?" You grinned at him and leaned across thetable a little.  "That's how I feelaround you all the time.  Like you can read my mind." "nah...  yourface.  i stare at your face.  i mean i read it.  your face."  Sans tugged at the gray fluff of his hoodie,suddenly averting his gaze from yours. "so, um.  two truths and alie.  right.  uh... i'm left-handed."Easy.  That was definitely true.  He used his left hand for everything. "i, uh... hm.  when i have bad dreams, itext you to make myself feel better." Cute.  And true. "and i've never had a crush on anyone.  'cause i'm stone cold like that." It was no secret that Sans was aromantic and asexual, asmuch as that crushed your hopes of ever being in a relationship with him, so, alsotrue. ...  Wait.  What? That made three truths.  You werecertain of it.  You went back over hisresponses in your head, as if stumped on a test question with no "none ofthe above" option.  You checked offyour reasoning one by one, all while staring at him suspiciously. He'd been eating and drinking with his left hand all night,and you vividly remembered him always doing so. Check. He'd told you about texting you when he had bad dreams, andhe still did it sometimes, although much less frequently than before.  You had his message alert set louder thananybody else's for just that reason. Check. He never had a crush on anybody...  Come to think of it, he'd never actuallystated that as a fact.  Things like thatjust didn't seem to be a part of his life, so maybe, all this time, you'd justgone and assumed...  And besides, youknew that sexuality and romanticism could be fluid.  Maybe he'd simply developed feelings forsomebody very recently."...  You're lying about the crush,aren't you?" Sans let out a giggle, a precious noise you seldom got tohear from him, and covered his face with his hands.  "fuck. is it that obvious?  i'm so dumb,why did i make that my lie?" "Get outta town. You've had a crush?"  Youwere glad his face-reading systems seemed to be down at the moment, becausethere was no disguising the pang of jealousy you felt.  Who the hell could be so lucky as to haveSans crushing on them?  He was the mostgenuinely good guy you could think of. "Who?" He kept his face covered and shook his head.  "nah.""C'mon.  I'm your best friend." "i know!  iknow.  look, i'm drunk, but i'm not drunkenough to spill those beans, ok?" "Awwwh.  Well,okay.  I won't push you."  You had to admit, though.  It stung a little more to know that hewouldn't tell you. He went on as if he barely even heard you, his voice muffledin his hands.  "i mean, it was thetruth for awhile.  and then a littlewhile ago i stopped to think about why i, uh, felt differently about this one personthan i did about anyone else i'd ever met. and it got...  really foggy,because we were becoming friends at the same time?  so i was confused.  kinda like... have i just never had a friend this close to my heart, or is theresomething more to it?  kinda like is itnormal to feel your soul melt in your chest every time your friend laughs atone of your jokes that you know wasn't even good.  and it just kinda hits you that they'relaughing because they like you enough to think you're funny even though you'renot.  they like you enough to think thatyou're good even though you're not.  andthen you're lying awake all night while they're texting you into the earlyhours of the morning and all you can think about is how much they mean to youand how amazing they make you feel.  andyou've never had drugs before but you're pretty sure this is what they feellike?" "That's..." You glanced away, then back at him. "Um.  Really specific,Sans.  But.  You arefunny!  And you are good.  I'm not trying tosay that this friend of yours doesn't like you, but don't sell yourselfshort." "ayyy, who you callin' short?" You chuckled, but continued sincerely.  "You're a good person.  Think about all the things I know aboutyou.  All the things I imagine you mightstill feel guilty for."  He sunk inhis seat a little.  You weren't surewhether he was still grinning behind his hands, or if he might be closer tocrying at this point.  But you couldn'tstop yourself.  The Sans praise train hadno brakes.  "I might not knoweverything, but I know enough to say that I know you as a person.  And I can tell you this: You.  Are.  Agood person.  I'd trust you with mylife.  And you know that means alot.  Trust doesn't come easy withme." His voice came out strained and a bit broken.  "you believe in me so much... " Of all the types of drunks you'd imagined Sans might be, anemotional one was not at the top of the list. That was where sleepy drunk and hungry drunk were hanging out.  Emotional drunk was down at the bottom alongsidehyper drunk and flirty drunk.  Still,unexpected did not equal unnerving.  Youput your hands over his to comfort him. "Awh, geez.  Ididn't mean to make you cry!  I'm sosorry.  I owe you the ice cream it'sgonna take you to cheer up from this.  Holdon.  I'll be right back."  You had to go order it at the counter."a'ight.  don't take too long.  i'll miss you when you're gone, kid." "Oh, don't be dramatic."  You left the table with a smile and heard himlet out...  either a huff or a sighbehind you. You didn't notice until you were at the counter, debatingwhether to get him a scoop of strawberry or chocolate, that you felt likesomebody was staring at you.  You glancedto your left, then to your right, expecting to catch a hostile glare in yourdirection.  It wouldn't be the first timesome bigot saw you and Sans together and either assumed something about yourrelationship or just plain didn't like the idea of you two even being friends.  But everybody was minding their ownbusiness.  Some girl who looked like shewas ten times more confident than you could ever be caught your eye and smiledat you.  You looked away quickly.  Nope. It wasn't until you turned a full 180 degrees that yourealized it was just Sans making intense eye contact with the back of yourhead.  He no longer had his face hiddenin his hands.  He was hunched over thetable with his chin resting on his folded arms, like he couldn't even sit upstraight.  But what struck you the mostabout him was his eyes. Because in place of the usual lily-white circles of hispupils, there were now very distinct heart shapes. ... He was giving you literal heart eyes?  Was he really making those heart eyes atyou?  You wiggled your fingers at him inan uncertain gesture of greeting as a test. He responded quickly by shutting his eyes and waving back at you.  The blush on his cheeks was visible fromacross the room.  And even your closedoff, pessimistic attitude wasn't strong enough to turn you from the truth thathad been right before your eyes the entire time.  God, how could you have been so dense?  Who the hell else could Sans have beentalking about when he mentioned becoming friends over the past few months?  Why the hell else wouldn't he have even beenable to give you the name of his crush, when he'd told you so much more deepsecrets than something silly like that? Sans had a crush on you. No baby animal video in the world could ever strike you ascuter than that.  You were sure yourwhole face lit up for seemingly no reason. You felt like squealing.  Thecashier had to tap you on the shoulder to get you to turn back around andexchange your money for the chocolate ice cream you'd decided on (because,while he usually preferred strawberry, Sans had had enough fruit in his drinksthat evening). You raced back over to the table, almost tripping anddropping his ice cream in your haste. Luckily, you and the ice cream survived, and you were able to successfullydeliver it to him.  "Hey!  What happened to the heart eyes!  Bring 'em back!""what happened to the what now." "I saw that! Dude I didn't know your pupils could change shapes, that's freakinginsane!"  You slid into your seatacross from him.  Smoothly.  "How on earth do you get your pupils tochange into heart shapes?" He pulled his hood over his head.  "i was looking at the ice cream don'tjudge me." "Were you blushing and waving at the ice cream,too?" "... yyyyyes." You smiled at him, unable to contain your joy andamusement.  You put your hands over wherehis were so tightly clasping his hood, and gently moved it back down to itsusual resting spot on his shoulders.  Helet you do it.  "Hey.  Don't sweat it.  I really, really like you, too." "y...  youdo?" "Yeah.  It's justlike you said.  It was weird for awhile becauseI was becoming friends with you and developing feelings for you at the sametime, but...  shit, man.  Is this isn't the biggest crush of my life,then I don't know what is." "oh thank god. when you grilled me about the heart eyes i thought i was actually aboutto die right here and faceplant in my ice cream cone." "Hehe!  Dramaking."  Your smiled widened a bit asyou moved your hands from the hood of his jacket to his cheeks.  "... So...  shit, man.  Are we doing this?" "yes!" he said, a little too loudly and a littletoo eagerly.  He made a visible effort tocontrol himself.  "i mean, if youwant to?""Absolutely."  Your eyesglimmered with amusement.  "But I'mnot gonna kiss you 'till you're sober, sport." "...  fuck,"he groaned, his head rolling back. "can't believe i got hammered on our first date.  see what you're getting into agreeing to dateme?" "Mulligan!" He tilted his head back down to look at you with an adoringgrin, and yes, his pupils in obvious heart shapes, too.  "what am i gonna do with you?" "I think the better question is what you would ever dowithout me," you quipped.  He sighedand nuzzled against the palm of your hand, then turned his head a little andseemed to kiss it with his teeth. "i would go to the ends of the earth to find ya'.  that's what i'd do."